Guardian of Corruption
by Gueniveir
Summary: When I first woke up, millions of years ago, they told me very little. First, they told me that I was an 'Ayanumi', and that I was to guard my planet no matter what. They also told me that there was something that was killing my kind, and coming for me next. They only really told me one other thing: that my name - yes, my real name - was Jenova.
1. Garden of Glass

**-Disclaimer- Watch out; my disclaimers normally include fails at comedy. But, I don't own Final Fantasy 7, or anything i may allude to; unless, of course, it's one of my stories I'm alluding to. I do not own any songs I may use for chapter titles (including Corruption Garden, which I'll mention multiple Times).  
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_A/N: Hello all! This is my take on Jenova's past. This is also a backstory for my other current Fanfic, 'Darkness Returns', but seeing as how this is way before it, you don't really need to read that one to know what happens. There'll only be a few comments that you might not understand, and you probably won't be used to Jenova's humanoid look, or my take on her character. Okay! So, nearly every character is an OC, since they'd probably all be dead, even in Square's version of her – her, its, whatever – past._

**_…_**

_A/N: Hehe. Alright, so, this is not AU! Please do not assume that it is. It's the past, and will end up where the known FF7 storyline starts. Because this begins millions of years before FF7, only three characters from the games are in this; all others are OC's, and many places are not from FF7 as well. Different planets and such. Okay, so, finishing this up… Looking at this with a game-like perspective: The 'T' rating is for violence, mainly, being that it's Jenova. There are also a few mild swears every now and then. And, if you've read DR, then you know about my take on Jenova's attitude, so there are also a few suggestive comments and scenes scattered about, but nothing much. There are also a few vague references to a character being drugged. ALSO, a forewarning: I may have to change this to 'M' by around chapter eight or nine, and if you've read DR, you know why. If you haven't, then I'll be blunt: there are going to be multiple torture scenes in this, and multiple mental breakdowns. Because honestly, you think I can get her from being good (yes, she starts off good in this) to being the FF7 Jenova without any of that? I'll try to keep them brief while also getting my point across, but hey, the Square Jenova's past is probably much worse. Also, for those that haven't read DR, you should know that I take a look at Jenova with a Tragic Character angle, so that's how this will be, and it won't be just 'Who Goes There?' stuff. I have my whole own storyline going on here. Now! To the story!_

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**Guardian of Corruption**

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_**Is it really possible to know our destiny when our journey has just begun? Is it even plausible? That's my question. And is it possible to start out on top of everything, and then suddenly be ripped from all that you know? If that happens, you would have two options: to let it make you weak, to let it all wash over you, and just hope that it ends soon; and to fight it until you're on top again, no matter what you go through and no matter how much you lose. This… is not a story of weakness. But is it truly one of strength…? Well, that's up to you to decide…**_

_**Garden of Glass**_

** D**arkness. Pure darkness. I couldn't see anything… Where was I…? _Who _was I? What was going on?!

It didn't take me long to realize that the darkness around me was caused by my eyes being closed. I slowly opened my eyes, looking around.

_**Where**_** am**_** I**_**…**_**?! **_I thought.

The setting around me was beautiful. It was dark out, and many stars gleamed brilliantly in the sky. There were trees of glass – or maybe crystal, because come on, glass trees wouldn't make sense, while crystal ones would be _perfectly _normal – everywhere, shining in the moonlight. There were also many other types of plants, all of which seemed to be made of glass as well. And yet they were obviously living plants. I may not have known much at the time, but I still knew that that wasn't necessarily right…

I was in a clearing of sorts, lying down on an octagonal white and grey marble platform. There were eight mirror-walls all around the edges of the platform. I would have been trapped, but one of them was broken down. That was the only reason I could see outside, since there was also a reflective roof as well. Also, I was already right next to the opening, so I didn't bother looking in any of the mirrors.

I cautiously stood up. I stumbled at first, but eventually got the hang of walking around. I walked outside, looking at my reflection on the outside of the walls.

My hair was silvery-white and went slightly past the middle of my back. I was tall and thin – but I could still feel how strong I was – and my skin was smooth and quite pale. My eyes were a sort of dark magenta, and they were glowing slightly. Even _I _knew that that probably wasn't completely normal, but I ignored it. As to my age… I looked as though I was maybe somewhere around eighteen to maybe twenty, although I highly doubted that that was true.

I was dressed in a tight-yet-comfortable black leather jumpsuit, and was wearing a white cloak. The hood of the cloak had been up at first, but I had taken it off so that I could see my hair.

I started pacing around, trying to figure out what was going on. The glass grass moved as if it was normal grass, so I didn't have to worry about breaking it.

So, what did I know so far…? I knew that I was alive, first off. I knew how to speak, if only in my mind at that moment. I was in some place made out of glass, which was probably kept alive by some sort of magic. And… well, that was it, really.

Now, there was the list of things I _didn't _know, which was much longer… For starters, I didn't know who I was. I didn't know _what _I was. I didn't know _where _I was. Those were pretty big things to not know…

While thinking about my predicament, I heard something – or someone? –nearby. I looked around, but didn't see anything. At first, of course.

Then, I heard something directly behind me. I turned around to find someone simply staring at me as though I had just fallen from the sky – which, honestly, wouldn't be too hard to accept. Lurkers, bet you can't guess who this is, huh? Yeah, I met him pretty early on…

It was incredibly hard to judge his age, but he looked to be in his early twenties. He had layered, slightly disheveled light brown hair. He was taller than I was, but not by too much. His skin was slightly tanner than mine, and it was obvious that he was probably exercising all the time. His eyes were startlingly green, and I could tell just by looking at them how intelligent he was. He was wearing a brown and green leather outfit, and unlike most of the outfits you see modernly, his actually seemed to be made of real leather and probably wasn't just for show. Also, he had a wooden staff strapped to his back. Why didn't _I _get a weapon…? Although, honestly, I probably shouldn't have cared. But you all know how I am… Also, you guys should probably know, his staff was, at the top, curled around a larger greenish marble thing… Bet you know what that is, eh? No, before you ask, he isn't related to Aerith/Aeris. You'll find out how her family got it in the end of this.

I think we probably stared at each other for a while, but I honestly don't know how long. I was simply waiting for him to make the first move, and I think he was doing the same. I was honestly a bit worried. Would he think that I was his enemy…? _Was _I his enemy? After all, I didn't know what was going on…

Finally, he pulled out his staff and shook his head. "Who…?"

I shrugged, finding that I knew how to speak in the same language. "Not really sure myself. I just seemed to have woken up here about a minute ago…"

He looked at me cautiously, the distrust obvious in his eyes. "Er… What _are _you?"

"Well, that's quite rude. But, honestly, I don't know. As I said before: I _just _woke up here. I don't know what happened before, if anything _did _happen."

"How do I know if you are telling the truth?"

"You're quite tense…"

He smirked. "I am the defender of this world, until it has a Guardian. Or, an Ayanumi, if they exist. I need to be tense, especially when I meet someone who obviously is not a Cetra or a Human. The Planet has been very cautious lately, and I assume that that means that it is in danger. And I am inclined to believe that you are the reason why. You are the only person I have met that is not normal."

"Well, I don't know what kind of a threat I can be without my memories and without any way of fighting, but alright."

"…You really do not remember _anything_?"

"Nothing."

"…Stay here." He turned and left without another word.

"But I- oh, you're gone. Okay then." I sighed and sat down on the marble platform without anything else to do. So I already had an enemy. Great…

"Hello?"

I jumped, turning to face the woman who had spoken. She didn't seem much older than me. She had blonde hair and bright green eyes, somehow different than the man from earlier. They just seemed more… vibrant? As though they reflected some kind of powerful energy. She was wearing some kind of robe that was white, gold, and blue.

She smiled at me. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, no, it's fine… Um… Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Minerva. It's nice to meet you, Ayanumi." If you haven't read our other story, then Minerva talking is probably new to you. But yes, she _can _talk, but only if it's the will of the Lifestream to say something. It's similar to how the Cetra are able to understand the Planet, only more direct. She didn't talk to Genny that one time in your game because the Lifestream didn't feel the need to say anything to him. However, I'm the special one, hehe.

"Nice to meet you, too. That guy from before said something about an Ayanumi… Now, I'd tell you _my _name, but, unfortunately-"

"You don't know it. Correct?"

"Yeah, basically."

She looked contemplative for a moment, not really saying anything and just seeming to think.

"Uh?!"

Minerva and I looked over at where the man from before was standing, looking stunned. He shook his head. "M-Minerva?! What are you…? How are you…? What?!"

Minerva smiled over at him. "Oh, hello, Cantus. You've met Jenova, correct?"

I nodded. "Hmmm… I like it." Honestly, I felt like that _was _my name. And yes, readers; that _was _my original name. Hojo and Gast found out about it because I told them. Long story.

The guy, Cantus, nodded. "Yeah, I have. Is she the threat you thought you felt…?"

I held up my hand. "Uhhh… I thought you said that the planet told you there was a threat?"

He nodded. "Yes? And?" He paused, looking at Minerva. "You didn't tell her…?" Oh, so he spoke normally with her, but not with me…?

"No, I didn't tell her. And… her? A threat to the Planet?" She laughed. "Oh, well, that would be ironic, seeing as how she's the _Ayanumi._"

Cantus stared at us both. "She's… She's what? You mean, she's the-"

Minerva nodded, cutting him off. "She's the Ayanumi. That's why she doesn't remember her past; she doesn't _have _a past. She's been unconscious."

Cantus looked slightly confused, and gave Minerva a questioning look. She glanced cautiously at him, and he sighed. "The… So, the threat to the Planet is really that bad…?"

"Yes."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Would someone mind telling me what's going on?"

Minerva shook her head. "I'll leave that up to you, Cantus. I need to be going…"

Cantus thought for a moment. "But… can't you at least tell _me_ what's going on?"

"I would, if I knew. All I know is that there is a source of great darkness on the Planet… one that, I fear, will not be easily defeated. If it can be defeated at all. I won't be able to fight it by myself, so you will need to help when the time comes."

He nodded. "I… alright. I promise you that we will do our best."

She nodded, and then just… _disappeared. _There was a green light, and she was simply gone.

I grinned. "Cool…"

Cantus smirked. "Alright, so… What now?"

"Why are you asking me? I still don't know what an 'Ayanumi' even is."

"Oh, of course…" He bent down and picked up a shard of the glass, looking at it. Then, without warning, he threw it at me. Had it hit me, it certainly would have killed me, as his accuracy was immaculate and the shard would have easily pierced my heart. But, luckily, I held up both of my hands on instinct, and the shard stopped about just a few inches in front of me. But… I didn't catch it myself. It was simply… floating there. I stared at it, and then put my hands down. Instantly, the shard fell to the ground. Cantus smiled slightly. "Sorry, just checking."

"You could have killed me!"

"Yes, but I didn't."

"I- _Ugh, _you're impossible. Anyways, what were you 'just checking', huh?"

"I trust Minerva, but I needed to make certain that you really _were _the Ayanumi. That glass is… special, so to say. The entire forest is. Only your magic would have worked on it. Although, honestly, I could have just checked your reflection, but I must admit that I tend to go to extremes."

"Yes. Yes, you do. Wait… my reflection?"

He nodded at the glass/mirror walls, which I looked over at. But… I could see myself in it, yet Cantus' reflection was very faint. How…?

Cantus nodded. "Only the reflection of the Ayanumi and the Guardian will show up. Since I'm the Guardian's protector, mine will show up as well, but only very slightly."

"Huh. Cool. Now… What _is _an Ayanumi? And a Guardian?"

"Well, a Guardian, first off, is, to put it simply, a guardian of a planet. Ayanumi are…" He paused, and then continued, seeming to try to figure out how to describe it. "Well, they're very similar to Guardians, but yet, in a way, different… I don't really know how to explain it. They keep each other in check, I suppose." There was something he wasn't telling me but, for some reason, I didn't push him, and just let him continue. "Every planet that has life has a Guardian o- _and_ an Ayanumi; so it seems, at least, although I must admit that I almost thought the Ayanumi weren't real. Anyways, unfortunately, something's been… _wrong, _lately. Minerva told me that, although she doesn't know for certain, someone is killing off many of the Guardians and the Ayanumi. There are still _many _left, but… Well, having Guardians and Ayanumi die isn't a good thing. They're immortal and incredibly powerful."

I nodded. "Immortal and incredibly powerful, huh? I like it. Go on."

He smirked. "Right. Of course, Guardians are far more powerful than Ayanumi, but you're both definitely more powerful than any mortal. And, well… being either may not be a good thing right now. I fear that whatever – or whoever – is killing them is here now, looking for you. Well, you and the Guardian, of course, but it seems that it's only you for now. That's most likely why Minerva brought you out of your comatose state. She doesn't want this thing to kill you, and she doesn't want it to kill the Planet."

"I thought she _was_ the Planet?"

"It's… complicated. This Planet is… unique, I suppose I should say. It has an energy that keeps it alive. This 'energy' is also where a being goes after they die. We call this energy the 'Lifestream', and Minerva is its representation."

"Oh, okay…"

"Anyways… This planet is home to many beings, but the most powerful race is the Cetra. We're able to talk to the Planet – or the Lifestream – as you've seen. Our society – if you can call it that, since we don't really stay anywhere for a while – is held in check by a council. I am one of the council's members, and I have a stronger bond with the Planet than most, being who I am. Then there are the humans, who are Cetra that have forsaken their bonds with the Planet in favor of a life of leisure. There are very few of them at the moment, and I hope that it stays that way…" Unlike your world, humans were around for a few million years here; just clearing that up.

"Got it. So where do I come in to all of this?" I asked, just wanting to get to the point.

"Well… You're the Ayanumi, one of this Planet's immortal protectors. If you want to live, we'll need to figure out a way to find out what is killing the Guardians, without letting it know about you."

"And how are we supposed to do that, exactly?"

"Hmm… The Ayanumi have varying powers, but they all have the same core abilities, if I'm remembering correctly. One of these abilities allows you to alter your own form. I only know the basics of how it works, but I'm hoping that you can figure it out."

I nodded. "I think I can. It's kind of like… well, I don't exactly _know _how, but I can kind of just… _feel _it? As though I _should _know… I don't believe that I can change my entire form, but I should at least be able to alter my look."

I focused, just kind of thinking about what I wanted to happen. I had to try more than once, and I was getting a bit frustrated. I focused again for a moment, thinking about anything that I knew about my genetic structure. There must have been _some _way to alter it, or to at least mask it… Then, before I knew it, it actually worked. I must admit that I was quite surprised.

My hair color changed to brown, and my eye color changed to a dark brown. Other than that, I stayed the same, but this was good enough. After all, I was just learning the basics for now. I wasn't quite sure why I chose that form; it just seemed like something I should know. Lurkers, you probably know who that form is modelled after.

He nodded. "Alright, good. But… I think your outfit would probably stand out a bit…"

"Well I don't know what you people wear! Sheesh!" I tried focusing again, but not really _on _anything. Then…

_My word, you're annoying…_

I smirked at him. "Aw, thanks, I try."

He jumped, looking at me. "I… didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. You said I was annoying."

"I didn't say it… I thought it? You're telepathic?"

"I am? I guess I am. Shouldn't you know that?"

"Hmm… not all Guardians have that ability, so I wasn't sure if you would."

"Well, I'm not a Guardian," I said.

He paused. "Oh, right, but you would normally have the same powers as one."

"Guess I'm just special, then," I said, shrugging and grinning at him. He smirked.

"Perhaps you are. If nothing else, you're certainly getting on my nerves, which isn't something easily done."

I nodded. "Well, that's good to know. Now, what do I need to wear to not look like an alien?"

He shrugged. "Most Cetra wear robes of some sort. I'm an exception, since I've been here a while and I'm _going _to be here a while." He grimaced. "And, if you're immortal, that means I'm going to be dealing with you forever. Great. Just great…"

I grinned at him. "Yes. Yes, you are. Wait… you're immortal as well?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately or not, yes. I was taking your place until now, and now my new purpose is to, unfortunately, protect you until the Guardian shows up. Which means that I have to be immortal as well. I _can _die, as can you, but not from age or sickness. Unlike the other Cetra, I'll never be able to go to the Promised Land, but… Well, I'm fine here, I suppose. At least, I_ was_, until you showed up."

I nodded. "Oh, good! Don't worry; I'll drive you insane in no time."

"Yes, I can tell. I think you've almost succeeded already."

I just grinned at him again. "Good." I sighed, focusing on myself again. Instead of my appearance changing, my entire outfit morphed into a grey robe. Probably a mixture of the colors of what I knew would be my main outfit. The robe wasn't exactly like what most people would expect; it wasn't like some baggy wizard robe or anything. It was actually more like a dress, since it was actually slightly tight, but not uncomfortably. Cantus sighed, shaking his head.

"Good enough. Let's go, Ayanumi…" He started off, and I had no choice but to follow him. We were walking for a while, but after we left the forest, the terrain basically stayed the same. It was a slightly mountainous region, with rocky hills here and there. The rest of it was mostly a huge, grassy field. I could see forests every now and then, but they were all more normal than the one we had come from. Finally, we walked into another large forest and came into a pass. Then, we arrived at some weird kind of city. The buildings all seemed to be made out of shells or something. It wasn't the biggest city, but there were multiple buildings that seemed only half-built, so it was easy to assume that they were still working on it. Then, as Cantus led me though the town, we came to some sort of huge shell building thing, resting in the center of a lake. We hadn't seen any people on the way in, but I assumed that that was because it was night. Most people were probably asleep.

Cantus looked back at me. "Although Cetra are normally on the move, we _do _have a city. We call it 'Korsanth'. This is where most of the people spend their time at night; however, there's another large structure underground, that's mainly for the Council."

"Oh, okay…"

"Normally, I wouldn't come here; but this is an exception."

"You're going to tell your council friends about me?"

"No. But I think that they should know what Minerva said, about the threat to the Planet being so bad that she won't be able to handle it entirely by herself."

"Oh, right…"

"And, also, you should know that very, very few people even know about the existence of the Ayanumi; it's the Guardians that are important. And it's best if it stays that way, as you aren't in as much danger. So, for now, it would probably be best if I called you by your race name, so that people think it's merely a name. There's a chance, after all, that this thing knows your real name by now…"

"Oh, um… okay?"

Cantus nodded, leading me into the building. There was a staircase curling around it, but he led me down instead of up. A passage opened, allowing us to walk down a large staircase that seemed to be made of magic. It led us down to some sort of castle-like building that seemed slightly cramped in the layout, yet was larger up close than it should have been. There were multiple different turret-like buildings on and around the castle, each with a closed door. Yes, they had doors once. There were ramps going between each of the turrets, and each probably held something different than the others. It was somewhat quiet in the whole area, besides the gentle humming of the pathway and the slight movements of the lake. There were footsteps as well, and slight talking every now and then.

Although there were still many people probably either asleep or gone, there were still some people walking around. They were all wearing different kinds of robes, but most of them were more simple like mine, luckily. None of the Cetra once looked at me as though I shouldn't be there. There were a few, though, that seemed to take notice of me. Cantus made a mental note of that, as did I. Perhaps one of those people was the person that was trying to kill me…

Cantus did some sort of magic while he was walking, but I wasn't entirely certain what it was. I was fairly certain, though, that he was talking to someone mentally, but I couldn't break into the conversation. I needed to get better at this…

Finally, we got to the bottom of the city, where the lake was present. There was a platform in the center of the lake, where there were a few men in purple robes waiting for us. Cantus led me across a transparent path – made of magic, I could tell – that rested on a few circular pillars in the water. I remembered wondering if, should the spell that held up the pathway fail, someone would be able to jump across the pillars to get to the platform in the middle. Ironic, huh? I actually made a comment about it, and Cantus told me that it was possible for the path to fail, as the platform was special – he wouldn't tell me why – and so the spell to get to it could, unlike the spell for the staircase, be shattered without much effort. That's why, in modern times, the staircase down to the city is still present, yet this path is gone.

One of the men nodded at me as we approached. "Who's she?"

Cantus looked back at me. "Councilmembers, this is Ayanumi. Ayanumi, this is the council. Anyways, now that that's out of the way… Don't worry, Lucade. I can tell what you're thinking, and yes. She can be trusted."

The man who had asked who I was, apparently Lucade, paused, but then nodded, taking a step back. I was able to gather all of the names of the council just by trying out my telepathy thing. I heard nine names, but… there were only eight council members? And that included Cantus. So… who was the ninth…?

_Ayanumi, can you hear me?_

I nodded slightly, although only Cantus took notice of it. I was slightly annoyed that he still didn't call me by my actual name even in private conversation, but I didn't complain.

_Good. Just… don't say anything. Got it?_

_**Got it. **_I didn't think he would be able to hear _me, _but he seemed to be able to, just by the way he paused slightly. So, my telepathy must have worked both ways. This would come in handy… _**By the way… Who's Garland? **_I hoped that he would hear me again, because in all honesty, I had no idea how to use my telepathy. It's kind of like jumping into a game halfway through and not knowing how to actually play, so you basically just hit a bunch of random things and hope for the best. So far, it was working.

_Some Cetra guy I've never met before a few weeks ago. I haven't seen him since then, though._

That, of course, made me worried. Now, I'm assuming most of you reading this know who Garland is, correct? So you know where this is going. You see, 'Garland' is actually the alias you-know-who uses a lot, now that all of the events with the original Garland are over. I'd completely explain everything, time loop included, but it'd probably make your head spin. Even I only understand so much myself. So I'm gonna avoid explanations for now.

_**Oh, uh, okay…**_

Another one of the men stepped forward. "So, we know her name, but _who _is she? And can she listen to what you have to say?"

"…Perhaps you're right. Ayanumi, go wait over there, alright? Wherever you can't hear us. After all, it's not like you can tap into our minds to see what's going on, right?"

I smirked. _**Subtle. Very subtle. **_But I nodded. "Oh, of course." I walked off. Once they couldn't see me, I tried to figure out how to work out my abilities. As much as I already hated Cantus, I didn't want to kill him. Much. So I wasn't really all too certain how to listen in to the conversation without killing him… or, of course, if I even could.

I was behind one of the small turrets/buildings where nobody could see me, so I sat down, focusing. I turned my thoughts to how I had spoken to Cantus mentally, how I had heard his thoughts, and how I had tapped into the minds of the other members of the council. I thought that it was working for a moment, but I must have tried too hard, as instead of seeing into anyone else's mind, I accidentally affected my own, throwing myself backwards and into the wall. I tried it again, and the same thing happened; although, this time, with a bit more fire in the air around me. I growled underneath my breath, muttering a curse in the first language I had used – which wasn't the Cetra's language, by the way. I tried it a few more times with similar results before realizing that I wasn't even really trying anymore; I was just trying to force it to work. Reluctantly, I calmed myself down, just thinking for a moment.

If there was one thing I knew for some reason, it was science. The basics of the universe. And I knew the universe was a being itself; two, Light and Darkness, actually. So, if the universe was 'technically' an 'organism', then it must have followed the same laws all life did; at least, something similar. That must have meant that everything within the universe was connected in the way that individual cells were. So, if that was true, then I must have been able to 'communicate' with the other 'cells' without them knowing it. Yeah, that made sense… Okay, it didn't really, but I knew that I was probably headed in the right direction.

I sat down again, focusing all of my energy in order to keep myself calm. Then, I realized that time seemed to have slowed down. I could hear everything; even the tiniest movement of the water nearby. Everything seemed to be in my reach; and that included every_one_. I reached out to the other minds around me, just barely seeing where each was. It was kind of odd, really… I felt like I could do more with this. When I was in this state, I felt like each and every mind around me was accessible to me. I felt like I could change the course of every thought, control every movement…

I quickly pulled myself out of my daze. Everything sped up again, and I looked around. My head hurt quite a lot, but I immediately craved that feeling I had just had again. I wanted desperately to go back into that state of consciousness. So I did, but immediately reminded myself of what I was doing. I figured out who was where, eventually focusing on Cantus. I wasn't even sure what I did, but it worked. Suddenly, I was in his point of view. I needed to learn how to keep my own point of view at the same time…

"-, from… something. I don't really know what it was," Cantus was saying. "But it nearly killed her, so I helped. That's it. Don't worry; I doubt she's very important to whatever's going on. I doubt that she's important at all."

I was quite mad, so my first instinct was to hit him. He winced slightly, and I could tell that I had somehow hit him mentally. But he didn't say anything about it, so I couldn't be certain.

Lucade nodded. "You're positive? You're sure that she's not what's threatening the Planet?"

"Positive."

"…By the way, why hasn't the Planet activated its Guardian yet?"

One of the other council members nodded almost immediately. "Yes… why is that? I assume it would have, by now. Right?"

Cantus paused, noting how this person had seemed a bit too… overzealous. Why did he care so much about the Guardian? "I don't know. Lucade, Dalan… why do you care?"

The one who had just spoken, Dalan, shook his head, almost too quickly. "Because we care about the Planet! How do we know that the Guardian hasn't been killed?! I mean… I don't know what I mean."

_**How… suspicious.**_

_Yes, very…_

Cantus shrugged. "Trust me; the Guardian hasn't been killed. I'd know. And we need to keep it that way…"

Lucade paused, glancing cautiously at Dalan, almost timidly. But he shook his head at Cantus. "And that girl… Ayanumi. Do you know for certain that _she _isn't the Guardian?" He said my 'name' oddly, which I noted.

Dalan glared at Lucade, who took a step away from him.

…_**Again I say: how suspicious.**_

_Yes, it is. But I trust them; there must be something else going on here…_

Cantus nodded. "Yes, I'm certain."

"Well, the Planet better awaken its Guardian _soon, _or we're all dead."

"Yes, I know. But we don't even know for certain that we're in danger."

"…Of course…"

Cantus sighed. "Anyways… The reason I called you all here is this: we don't know for certain that there even _is _a threat, but if there ever is, then the Planet is definitely in danger. Minerva told me-"

Lucade shook his head. "You contacted Minerva?"

Cantus glanced at him. "No… No, she contacted me. That _is_ how it normally works, after all. You guys are the ones who need to contact the Planet; I don't have to. Anyways, she said that whatever is coming may very well be too powerful for the Planet to handle on its own. This thing has been killing Guardians and their planets for quite a while now, so this will definitely be a tough enemy. But this is _our _world, so we have the upper hand."

Dalan nodded. "Yes. Come hell or high water, we _will _protect our Planet."

The others just kind of nodded in unison. There was something off with them, but I ignored it.

Cantus shrugged. "Exactly. So, then, with knowing that, there's much to do. I'll go see if perhaps the Guardian _did _awaken, and I just didn't know it."

"And if you do find him, will you tell us?" Dalan asked.

"I… don't know. I have to be careful, as you know. To be perfectly fair, for all I know, one of you could be this person killing the Guardians. In fact, I'm almost certain that that's the case."

All of the council members looked at each other warily, and Cantus just sighed. "I don't want you all turning on each other, but if any of you see anything suspicious, please, tell me."

Lucade nodded. "We will. Definitely."

"Good. I need to know that I can trust all of you. Now, I need to get going. All of you… just, be careful. We don't want any casualties…"

Cantus sighed and walked off of the platform. I noticed Dalan say something bitterly, and Lucade glanced back at him. But Cantus was too far away, now, so I didn't see what happened next. I sighed, pulling myself back to my own vision. Just in time for Cantus to walk up to me, too.

"Did you see all of that, Ayanumi?" he asked, although I noticed that his attention was momentarily drawn to the chars on the wall next to me. But he just rolled his eyes and turned back to face me.

I nodded. "Yeah. And can you please stop calling me that?!"

"No. Anyways… Were you able to figure out what was going on with Lucade and Dalan?"

"No, of course not. They were too far away. But you said that you trusted them, right?"

"Yes, that's true. Plus, if one of them is the person looking for you, the other council members will find it out before long. They'll tell me, the second they know. _They _can be trusted more than anyone else. Besides you, of course."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. …Now what?"

Cantus thought for a moment. "Well… You may need to fight soon, so you'll probably need to learn how to use your abilities. And you'll definitely need weapons, assuming you won't hurt yourself with them."

I shrugged. "Alright, then. I have no idea where anything here is, so you're going to have to lead the way."

Cantus sighed. "Alright, then. Come with me." He started walking away, and I followed him, not really having any other choice. Oh, if only I had known what was coming…


	2. A Different Kind of Excalibur

**-Disclaimer- Bow before the disclaimer, the one thing that commands me…**

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**A/N: 'Ello again. Sorry about the 11:00 update (for me, at least); I forgot it was Sunday, hehe. Now… First off, yeah, the thing where they were meeting is where Aeris/Aerith summons Holy modernly. And yeah, this is millions of years ago. **

_**I don't remember the actual length, but I think it was something like ten million years ago. The Cetra civilization was at its peak **_**long **_**before I came back and, you know, wiped them out and everything. Because they're basically the caretakers of the Planet, they didn't have to evolve as much as you humans on your world did. **_

**A/N: Yeah. And, on that note… I didn't put this in the first chapter because the author's note got too long, but I'd like opinions. Are you all alright with (mild) torture scenes, or should I just put them in sort of vague descriptions, i.e. fast-forward to where the characters barely remember it? There aren't very many, but still. Only two of the characters really ever get hurt too badly, and since there are really only two main characters at the moment, you can probably tell who it's gonna be, eh? I don't include one of them, because Jenova doesn't know about -cough cough- remember -cough cough- it. Anyways... Opinions, people! Alright, to the story!**

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_**A Different Kind of Excalibur**_

We didn't waste any time, and departed immediately. Cantus led me away from the city; quite far away, actually. Finally, we arrived at a lake not far from the glass forest. Apparently, as Cantus told me, the glass forest was actually called Vitrum Sylva. Not that it mattered much, but it was at least good to know.

I looked around. "…Why are we here, exactly?"

"Well, if you're going to survive, you're going to need a weapon. Normally, I would say that violence isn't the answer, but in this case…"

"It most definitely is. It's either fight or die, right?"

"…Right."

"Right. But… how is a lake going to help us, exactly?"

"Well, that's easy. The lake is enchanted. It'll give you whatever you want, as long as you truly need it. In this case, weapons are definitely something you'll need. We don't know how much time you have before you'll need to defend yourself, so you'll need to learn how to use both weapons and magic as quickly as you can."

I nodded. "Okay then… How does this work?"

"Just reach into the water. Whatever you need should be there."

I nodded, though I was still slightly tentative to reach into a magical lake. What if it was ruled by Cthulhu?! Okay, so I didn't think that _exactly_, but something similar. Reluctantly, I knelt down, reaching underneath the surface of the lake. It was dark on top, so I couldn't see what was down there. The water was lukewarm, but then again, I know now that temperature doesn't affect me too much, so that may have been why. Then, though, my hands brushed against something, and I grabbed it. Surprised, I pulled two weapons out of the water. They were both katanas with black hilts and black sheaths. A bit basic, but I didn't care.

I smiled slightly. "Uh… thank you, magical lake…" I said, tying the swords to my back using a belt-like thing that they had come with. They were surprisingly comfortable; I could barely even tell they were there.

Cantus paused. "Can you wield two weapons at once?"

"I guess we'll find out."

"Which reminds me… are you left-handed or right-handed? I never even thought about that, but it may be important."

"Uhhh… I don't know…"

He sighed. "Well, we should probably find out." He started walking again.

"Wait… are we going all the way back to the city?!"

He glanced back at me. "Yes, and?"

I shook my head. "No way. Isn't there a way to, like, teleport or something?"

"Not unless _you _can teleport."

"Well, let's try."

I grabbed his wrist and went into the same kind of mental state that I had gone into in Korsanth. This time, though, I envisioned Korsanth instead of the area around me, wanting to go there. I forced any thought I had into the spell, and it actually somehow worked, as the next thing I knew, we were standing right in front of the large shell building thingy.

"Ha! I'm _awesome_!"

Cantus just stared at me. "Dear goddess… And you just did that as a last minute thought?!"

"Yeah, and?"

"It takes powerful mages _years _to learn what you just figured out in seconds!"

I shrugged. "I told you I was special, didn't I?"

"Huh… I wouldn't say _special_; I'd just say that you're quite powerful…"

"Aw, come on," I said, poking him once. "You just don't want to admit that I'm cooler than you thought I would be."

He rolled his eyes. "Not at all. Anyways, come on. I want to test something out…"

He led me back into the large shell and back into the city. This time, though, we entered one of the turret/building things. The door was closed, but it wasn't locked, so Cantus opened it and led me inside, closing the door behind us. Immediately, I saw that it was a large library. There must have been some sort of magic at work here, because this place was definitely much larger than it looked on the outside. Cantus nodded. "Ever since the beginning, Cetra have loved writing. Both history and works of fiction. This is a collection of everything we've come across. I love it here…"

I nodded, looking around. "I can see why… But, if I may ask, why are we here?"

He sighed, walking over to a table nearby. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He put the paper on the desk and handed the pencil to me. "Here. Try writing anything. See which hand you prefer, so that you'll know which one is better to fight with."

I shrugged. "Alright…" I took the pencil in my left hand and sat down at the table, just drawing a simple infinity sign. I then did the exact same with my right hand, glancing back at Cantus. "Alright, you may have a problem here. Neither of my hands are better than the other. So there you go."

"You're… ambidextrous? Strange… Ah, well, that's obviously why you have two swords instead of one. Now, one last thing before I'll let you use those…"

"Yes?"

He looked around, making sure that nobody else was there. "Alright, Ayanumi. Teleport us to Vitrum Sylva."

"You got it!" I grabbed his hand and teleported both of us to the glass forest. We were right next to where I had first woken up, so I was pretty familiar with the area. I quickly let go of Cantus' hand, looking around. "So… why are we here?" I asked, reverting back to my original form and clothes – minus the cloak, of course, since there was really no need for it. Luckily, my swords stayed.

Cantus nodded, grabbing both of my swords before I could stop him.

"Hey!"

"Heh, sorry. Like I said earlier, I'd rather you not hurt yourself. Though it would probably teach you a_ much_-needed lesson, it probably wouldn't be very good if you managed to survive through most of the fight with whoever is trying to kill you, only to accidentally maim yourself so that they can finish you off…"

"Yeah, that probably wouldn't be very good…"

"Exactly. So…" He put both of my swords on the ground, holding his hands over them. They glowed softly after a moment, and he pulled his hands back. "There. Now they're enchanted, so they can never be used to harm you."

"Well, thank you very much. What if everything goes wrong, though, and I end up wanting to commit suicide to escape a fate much worse than death, but because of this I can't kill myself? Huh? Huh?" Yes, I actually said that. My life's been full of ominous foreshadowing; probably because of Guen's 'Cycles of Infinity' or whatever. For those of you that haven't read DR, just ignore this little comment…

He rolled his eyes, handing me my weapons again. "When would _that _ever happen?"

"Well, I'm just saying…"

"That won't happen, Ayanumi. Don't worry. Now… shall I teach you how to use those weapons?"

"I doubt you need to. How about you attack me and I try not to kill you?"

He smiled very slightly. Did he ever want to show _any _emotion besides contempt…? "Alright, whatever you say…"

Without warning, he pulled his staff out and attacked me. I was barely able to block in time. He struck me again, not wasting a second. This time, I was thrown backwards. I landed harshly on the ground, and Cantus made no move to help me in any way.

I shook my head, standing up. "Hey! No fair!"

Though his expression was calm, I could see in his eyes that he was trying his hardest not to laugh. "To be perfectly honest, whoever wants you dead won't play fair. I'm just, uh, preparing you."

"Oh, uh huh. Right. Sure."

"And _maybe _I wanted to teach you a lesson, but, you know, probably not."

"Oh, it's_ so_ on, now."

"You think you can take me?"

I shrugged. "I was holding back."

"Oh, I'm sure you were." He was just _asking _for it, now. Fine. If he wanted a fight, then I'd give him one.

I rushed him with my swords, but he blocked me easily. He smiled slightly at me, holding me back. "Ayanumi, I've had hundreds of years to train. You're just starting out. It doesn't matter _what _you are; you can't win."

"Ah, we'll see about that!"

I struck him again and again, but he was quite fast. So, I'd just have to be faster. If I didn't win today, I'd definitely win the next time we fought; that was for sure.

We didn't waste a single bit of space in our little skirmish. The entire field became our battleground. After a while, Cantus decided to test me even more. He would duck underneath my strikes and snatch a piece of glass from the ground, throwing it at me with a deadly accuracy. I either dodged or blocked every one, and then continued trying to strike Cantus down.

After what was actually probably an hour or two, I finally seemed to tire out Cantus. I myself was getting tired as well, honestly, but I didn't care. I was determined to win.

Finally, Cantus let me push him back against a tree. I crossed my swords against his neck, just to make sure that he didn't move.

I nodded. "I win."

"Mmmm… not necessarily."

"Uh… But…"

"I let you win, Jenova. You should realize that." I barely even realized that he had called me by my real name, since I was too focused on the present moment.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"You need to learn that winning and losing aren't always as black and white as they may seem. That someone may seem to give in, but in actuality…"

"But, unless I'm wrong, you don't seem to be able to fight back anymore."

He grinned wickedly at me, which surprised me greatly. Then, before I even knew what was going on, he used his staff to twist my swords out of my hands, causing me to drop them. He then flipped me around so that we were in the spots opposite of where we had just been. He pressed his arm across my chest and put his staff against my neck, pushing me against the tree and rendering me incapable of movement.

"You're wrong," he whispered in my ear before he pulled back, letting me catch my breath. I glared at him, picking up my swords. He shook his head, but I could see him smiling slightly. Why, that smug little… "No more fighting for now. You need to get some rest, before we continue with your training."

"I've had plenty of time to rest, thank you very much! I was comatose for who knows _how _long!"

He shook his head. "Being comatose is different than resting." DR readers, you may recall that I quoted that to Cloud in Nibelheim… "And if you're going to try testing out your magic, you'll want all the energy you can get. We need to discover all of what you can do as quickly as possible, so that you have the best chance of surviving."

"Oh… Alright, fine… I need to figure out a way to get energy without needing to sleep…"

Cantus glanced at me. "You'd better not. Pulling energy from others is dark magic."

"Oh… Any other dark magics I should look out for?"

"Yes, quite a lot. There are a few main ones, though. Any magic that can only be used to hurt others should be avoided. Also… mind-control. And anything close to it. Stay _away _from magic like that. That shouldn't be an issue, though, because the ability to control others would be innate. I've never seen anyone have it, before. I know there are people with such an ability, but nobody from this world. And every single one of them ended up evil." He gave me a dark look. "If you ever find that you have this ability, tell me _immediately_. Alright?"

I nodded, slightly stunned. "Oh, alright. I think I'd know by now, though…"

"Yeah, I hope you're right. To have an Ayanumi become corrupt would be terrible, with your amount of power. If that ever happens…" He shook his head unhappily.

"What? Would you have to kill me, if I could control others?"

He sighed, looking away. "Yes. Yes, I would. And if I couldn't, I'd have to have a more powerful Guardian take you out. It's the rules. Being able to control others is an ability that can only lead to destruction. Perhaps, if you had such an ability, I could help you try to get rid of it before the gods found out. But that would only work if you only ever used it a maximum of perhaps once. So, that's why, if you _do _find that you have this ability, you _have _to tell me the second you find out. Alright?!"

"Okay, okay, I will. Sheesh! I'd probably know by now, though, so I doubt there's anything to worry about."

"I sure hope you're right…"

I sighed. "Anyways… I guess I'll just get some sleep here, then. The forest will probably protect me."

He nodded. "Yeah, it should. So, luckily for me, you won't need me to be here for now. You'll be just fine on your own, right?"

I smirked. "Of course I will. I don't need your help."

"Good. I'll head back to Korsanth, then. Teleport back there in the morning, which…" He looked around. It was still dark out, but it probably wouldn't be for much longer. "Which shouldn't be too long from now. At least I'll be rid of you for a few hours…"

I rolled my eyes. "Uh-huh. But I'll make sure to annoy you just as much tomorrow."

"You know, maybe you being able to control others _wouldn't _be such a bad thing. At least then I could finally get rid of you for good."

I shrugged. "Yeah, maybe so. We'll see, I guess. I'll see you later, Cantus…"

He smirked. "Good night, Ayanumi." With that, he walked off.

I sighed, walking into the platform in the center of the clearing. Since only one of the walls had fallen down, it was still a fairly safe, enclosed area. Which was good, since I was kind of on my own for a few hours and probably wouldn't be able to defend myself. Maybe the forest was enchanted or something, so it would be able to warn me if I was in danger.

Still, just in case, I looked around cautiously. I looked at the one wall that had fallen down. Maybe, if someone thought all of the walls were up, I wouldn't be in as much danger. And hey, Cantus had said that I needed to learn how to use magic, right?

I paused, thinking for a second. Then, I looked at the one place where there wasn't a wall and focused. Again, it took me a few tries. In fact, I almost blew up the _other_ walls. But, I calmed myself just like I had done in Korsanth. Almost instantly, an illusion of the wall appeared, making it seem as though all of the walls were up. There was the issue of the glass on the ground, but that wouldn't matter too much.

I grinned. _**I. Am. So. **_**Cool!**

I finally realized that I actually _was _tired, so I lied down on the ground, closing my eyes. Tomorrow, I knew, I would figure out exactly what I could and could not do; even if that meant figuring out that I was marked for death.


	3. A Taste of Power

_**-Disclaimer- I summon the great lord Cthulhu to destroy this disclaimer.**_

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**A/N: I mentioned this in DR, but I should probably put it here, too: DR is short for Darkness Returns. I know, it's us being a bit lazy, but I also know it's easier for you guys to read two letters than that whole title over and over. Now, as to the chapter… Yeah, I rush right into this pretty quickly. Most of the story is after she leaves Gaia, so the beginning of it all will be pretty quick. Also, we apologize, but the next Darkness Returns chapter won't be up for a bit, as my friend's up here for the week.**

_**Also, sorry, this chapter's slightly short. Short for us, at least; normal or even long for most people, but short for us…**_

**A/N: Yeah, sorry about that. Alright, to the story!**

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_**A Taste of Power**_

I thought, because of the serene setting, that my dreams would be at least somewhat pleasant. Nope. Silly me, thinking that I could ever get a break, even after only one day of consciousness…

"_Finally…" a voice said from the darkness surrounding me, striking fear into my very soul, although it may sound a bit weird. "I've been waiting for you for nearly half an hour, you know…" There was no way that this was the voice of a Cetra. Whoever this guy was, he either _really _needed some water, or he was some sort of demon. Which wasn't good at all…_

_I looked around, but couldn't see anything. I could barely even see myself. I could tell that I was asleep, but this was far from any sort of dream. Though I knew that this wasn't real, there was no way that it was completely fake, either. I didn't speak, even though I knew that I could, because I didn't really want to do anything until I knew more about my situation._

"_That's fine; you don't need to say anything. I didn't expect you to. After all, you have no idea what's going on, correct? Nor do you know who I am. Not really, at least. But I'd bet you know why I'm here, right? On your Planet?"_

_Again, I didn't say a thing. But I knew exactly who this was. And he obviously knew exactly who _I _was as well._

"_Yeah, you know. My name is Chaos, for your future reference."_

_At that, I couldn't help myself. My curiosity got the best of me. "But… I could have sworn… Isn't your name Garland?"_

_He didn't speak for a moment. When he did, he sounded incredibly surprised. "You're… you're a woman?! I've never come across one of your kind that's female… Heh, how amusing. I wonder if this will change things… Yes, I suppose my name_ is_ Garland. That's an alias I use, though. My real name is Chaos." He paused again, seeming to think. "Tell me, little one. That woman that was brought before the council today… was that you?"_

"…_What? No… You mean the Cetra council?" I said, trying to keep my voice calm. Luckily, my voice was slightly doubled in a strange way, so he wouldn't be able to recognize it from earlier. Now I just needed to find out which of the Council members was actually Chaos…_

"_Yes, that one. Heh. Ahem, I mean… That wasn't you? Hmm… No matter. I'll still find you, eventually. None of your kind have been able to save themselves, and you will be no different. So prepare yourself for the end."_

The next thing I knew, I was awake again. I sat up quickly, breathing heavily. I just sat there for a minute, trying to figure out everything that had just happened. Before that, the threat I was facing had seemed distant, almost unreal. Now, though, this guy would be impossible to ignore. He knew I was awake. And he was coming for me. I _had _to go get Cantus…

I quickly tried to run through the illusionary glass. Unfortunately, being me, I chose the wrong one and slammed into the _real _glass. For some reason, it didn't make a sound. Probably because it was enchanted and stuff.

I took down my illusion, walking through the opening and making sure not to run into the walls this time. I started to teleport to Korsanth… but then, I realized that I didn't have to. I noticed something that I hadn't realized at first: Cantus. He was leaning against one of the glass walls, asleep. I couldn't help but smile slightly. So he _hadn't _left at all, eh?

I looked around, hearing something nearby. I quickly and silently made my way out of the clearing, looking around for what it was. I effortlessly leapt up into the trees, letting the shade wash over me. The sun was just rising, so there was enough shade left to hide me. I made my way from tree to tree, not making a sound. I sure was good at this.

Finally, I saw what it was that I had heard: a large black bird. Though I found that I already knew incredibly advanced things, the basic name of this creature evaded me. I thought for a moment, searching through the vast knowledge that I already had. So, I knew the true form of quantum physics, but I didn't know the name of this overgrown chicken?! And, I knew what a chicken was, but I didn't know about this large version?! How did that even make sense?!

The chicken thing was looking around at the 'grass' around it unhappily. It seemed to get that the glass on the ground was inedible. Smart bird… It hung its head dejectedly, walking away.

I jumped down, startling the chicken quite a lot. It started to run off, but I didn't want it to break the glass grass and hurt itself. Plus, I wanted to find out more about this thing. I went into my slowed-down dreamstate thing, much more quickly than when I had first done it. I had intended to learn at least the creature's race, but then it started to leave, and things took a bad turn…

"No no, wait!" I quickly said as it started to run off. I didn't realize that I was still in my dreamstate-thing. Now, my only thought was really to stop this creature in its tracks and keep it from hurting itself. And that was exactly what happened: it froze in its place.

"C'mere, birdy," I said, wanting that to happen. The chicken turned around and walked up to me. At first, I wasn't sure why it was listening to me. Then, I noticed that it looked terrified. I paused. "Why-" Then, I understood, and that same terror washed over me. No… that was impossible… Great. I'm only awake for one day, and now I have to be killed. Why do I of all people get the condemning ability…?!

The worst thing, though, is that I actually quite liked being able to control another living thing. It gave me the same rush that I always got whenever I went into this state of mind, but even better. It was a similar rush to what I had felt the first time I had gone into this state, when I had noticed all of the other living things around me and realized that I could have done more with them. It all gave me a sense of power that I loved feeling. But… no… this was wrong!

I quickly came out of my state of awareness, which broke my hold on the chicken. Then, I quickly scratched it behind its head. The look in the chicken's eyes went from fear to happiness, and it seemed to trust me a bit more.

"Sorry about that, birdy," I said, sighing. "Here, come with me. The edge of the forest isn't that far; we'll get you some grass."

The chicken actually seemed to understand what I was saying, but it looked worried. Why…? Well, it probably didn't matter. I led her – I could tell it was a female chicken, because its features were quite sleek – out to the edge of the forest, where there was actual grass. The chicken seemed to want to eat it, but still looked quite worried. Then, I noticed that she was watching something: a herd of more chickens. _That _must have been why she was so worried: she must have been kicked out of the herd! The gender diversity in the group seemed to be half-and-half, so that wasn't it… Then, I realized something: my bird was black, while all of these ones were yellow. So _that _was it, then; the herd didn't want a member that was different. Stupid, judgmental birds… Being different was just fine!

I looked at the chicken next to me. "Oh, so that's it, huh? You're a pariah, too? Yeah, I know the feeling. I will be as soon as they know what I can do..." I sighed unhappily. Then, the herd of chickens saw the one next to me, and the chicken next to me quickly hid behind me. I turned to the herd. "Hey, you guys. If you hurt my friend here, I'll turn you all into someone's dinner. Okay?"

The chickens didn't really seem to get that I wasn't joking. That, or they were just stupid. But they just went back to what they were doing after a moment, not really seeming to care about me.

I turned around, facing the chicken behind me. "Alright. You go back to them, okay? If they give you any trouble, come back to me and I'll knock them around. Okay?"

I could swear that the chicken nodded, and it cautiously walked into the field. It bent down and started eating the grass, but the herd did _not _like that. So, then, these chickens were pretty territorial…

One of the chickens charged mine, and I started to intervene physically. Then, though, I paused. Maybe I could prove that my abilities didn't make me evil! But… Cantus had said not to use the controlling ability more than once, or else it might start affecting me, and then I wouldn't be able to ever _stop _using it… Eh, oh well. He was probably wrong.

After a moment, I was able to go into my state of awareness again. I took a deep breath, calming myself down. Gah, this took much too long… But, it couldn't matter yet. I focused on the on assailant bird, and, after a few attempts, it froze in its tracks. My chicken ran over to me again, hiding behind me yet again. I focused on all of the other chickens, and soon, they all froze as well.

_**Ooooh, I can control more than one at once! Awesome! I mean, uh… nah, that's what I meant.**_

I nodded back at the chicken behind me. "Alright, you. You want to get out of here? There's something strange about you, and I can tell that you're probably like me, huh? As in, you don't need to eat? You probably just do because you don't get that you don't have to, right?"

The chicken stared at me, and I nodded. "Right. Come on, then. Let's go. You're coming with me." I let go of the herd and headed back into the forest, being followed closely by the chicken. I looked back at her. "You know? I'm starting to like you, birdy. Do you have a name? No, I doubt you do. So I'm gonna call you Aegis, okay? Okay. Alright, Aegis. We're almost back to the clearing…"

I looked up, noticing that the sun had risen. I needed to get back soon, before Cantus noticed that I was gone…

Aegis and I quickly got back to the clearing and made our way into the platform in the center. Aegis seemed hesitant at first, but then entered as well. I wondered if only people like me could enter this thing. It would make sense. In that case, I realized that I should probably stay here until I knew what was going on. But, for now, I needed to make Cantus think that I hadn't been gone. I didn't plan on telling him what I could do just yet; first, I wanted to make sure that I could control my abilities, instead of the other way around. So I put up the illusionary wall again, making anyone on the outside unable to see me. I sat down against the wall, looking up at Aegis.

"Ugh… what am I going to do…? My abilities are a death sentence. Cantus told me that, and I know he's right. He seemed dead serious about killing me if I had these abilities…" I sighed, thinking. If nothing else, I knew that my true strength was definitely in magic and anything having to do with the mind, since I could also use telepathy. At least that was good to know, so I'd be more comfortable when the time to battle came. But whether that battle would be against Chaos or Cantus remained to be seen…


	4. Nothing is Ever Black and White

_-Disclaimer- Hi._

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_A/N: Whaaaat?! It's Sunday again?! How?! I still haven't updated DR! ((Hehe, I got it that Time… Did I SERIOUSLY put DN earlier…? I must have been absolutely exhausted every Time I updated this... =/ Thanks for catching that, Hazza. Anyways, for all readers of DR, the next chapter will be up in three days max, I promise. My friend that I mentioned last chapter was here until today, so I didn't get a chance to write; sorry about that.))_

_**Also, I know about the review thing; same here. But AGAIN, just like **_**DR, **_**there are definitely people who have read each chapter so far, but don't do anything else. Readers, if you read a story you like, REVIEW. It makes us feel appreciated. **_

_((A/N: Plus, it helps to get reviews that tell me what I'm doing right, or even what I'm doing wrong. I'm fine with any reviews, even you yelling at me for getting something wrong, because it helps me; I'm trying to make this as canon as I can while still telling the story. So if you read, please review!)) Alright, to the story._

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_**Nothing is Ever Black and White**_

Somehow, I fell asleep again, resting my head on Aegis, who had decided to lay down as well. It wasn't bright in my enclosed space, since the sun was in the direction of the actual walls, which made the whole area shaded. Honestly, I don't know _how _I fell asleep, with the possibility that Chaos was waiting. I guess I was just so tired that I didn't really care. Finally, though, I woke up to the sound of knocking.

I cautiously stood up, glancing at Aegis. She stood up as well, looking alarmed. I shook my head, gently petting her to let her know that it was alright.

"Jenova?" Cantus asked. I stuck my head out of the illusionary wall, dissolving the wall and startling Cantus.

"Yeah?" I asked. Then…

"_Kweh_?" Aegis said, mimicking my movements just above me. I sighed, pushing her back.

"No, bad Aegis. You were supposed to stay in here!"

"Kweh…"

I sighed, walking out through the broken wall, then turning to look at a stunned Cantus.

He was still just staring at me. "Was that… was that a…?"

"A chicken? Yeah, I found her. Can I keep her? _Please_?"

Cantus smiled slightly. "That's not a chicken, Jenova. It's called a 'chocobo'. They roam wild around the plains, and we tend to let them be, because they can be a bit vicious if you get too close to them. They may look cute, but they hardly act it. …But, if it likes you, then I suppose it can stay. Ayanumi are allowed to have a companion that will live alongside them for eternity. There are going to be multiple animals capable of becoming your companion, as they will each have a fraction of the spirit of a Guardian. They will have bodies capable of becoming immortal, since they aren't built like others of their race. You will be able to choose one to give true immortality to. But before you give it to this creature, you may want to wait, just to make sure."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Sort of. Aegis, come here."

Aegis listened to me, walking out in front of us. I looked her up and down. "Hmm… Have you ever tried riding one of these things?"

"…No, of course not. Nobody's ever really gotten near one, except one accident."

"Guess I'll be the first, then!" I said, leaping onto Aegis's back. She looked surprised at first, but then shifted her weight to accommodate me. I grinned. "That worked better than I thought it would!"

Cantus just stared at me. "You know, Jenova, you're just taking the rules and throwing them right out the window."

"Yeah, I know. I'm fine with that." I paused, deciding to play with him a bit. "By the way… How did you get back here from the city so quickly?" I hoped that he didn't realize that I would have had to have gone by him to find Aegis in the first place…

Sure enough, he didn't seem to realize that fact. "Oh, uh, it's actually not as far as it may seem."

I smiled slightly. "Oh, alright then. Whatever you say. Now… You're going to teach me to use my magic, right?"

"It seems that I don't really _need _to, but we'll see what I can do. Based on how you can use telepathy, I'd assume your strength is in magic and mental power, not physical strength. And, based on what I saw yesterday, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, you tend to rely more on your own speed than your swords and the strength behind your attacks. Which has its definite benefits, but it also has a few disadvantages as well. However, if you're fighting an enemy relying solely on strength, then you have the advantage, unless you get caught in one of their strikes."

"Okay… thanks for mapping that all out for me… Now, then, if my strength is in magic, shouldn't I probably learn how to use it?"

He smirked. "Fair enough. You obviously know the basics, so there's really not much that I can teach you, besides how to aim and such. Get off the chocobo; we have work to do."

"…Okay…" I quickly got off of Aegis. "Go back to the platform-thing, Aegis." Luckily, she understood me, doing exactly that. I nodded at Cantus. "Alright."

"Hmm… Well, first off, we should probably find your main magical affinity."

"What kinds are there?"

"Quite a lot… The main's, though, are fire, water, earth, air-"

"And cheese?"

"No…"

"Sorry, I don't know _why _I felt the need to say that…" Honestly, I just felt as though it was a joke I already knew. Strange, but oh well.

"Right… Well, those tend to be the main four, but there's also electricity, nature, and so on. There are also Light and Darkness, but only the respective goddess and god of those two abilities are able to truly use them. And of course, there's the most powerful but most deadly that anyone can use, the one I was talking about yesterday."

I paused. "Mental abilities are the most powerful of the affinities…?"

"…Yes, for non-gods. But, as I said, there has never been someone with those abilities that ended up anything other than a deadly antagonist. I guess the power just goes to their heads."

So… I was able to use the most powerful of abilities? That others couldn't use? Did that make me more powerful than them…? No, no, I couldn't think like that…

Cantus sighed. "And, anyways, you can't even use those abilities, right?"

"…Oh, yeah, of course. That'd be bad, right?"

"Yes. Very. Having power over others is never good. Especially if, somehow, you were to fall into the hands of whoever is killing the Guardians… I'd hate to think of what that person would be able to do with such abilities…"

Then, that reminded me. "Oh! And yeah, you're right. But I forgot! Last night… the person killing the Guardians, Chaos, contacted me through my dreams. As soon as I fell asleep, there he was. And he was controlling the vision, too, because as soon as he left, I woke up. I don't know if he was nearby, but…"

Cantus looked troubled. "I doubt he would have come so close to an enchanted place, but still, it definitely is worrisome. What did he say?"

"Basically that he's going to kill me. And he was surprised that I was a female Ayanumi. Oh! And he called me a 'little one'. I'm not short!"

Cantus smirked. "I highly doubt he was referring to your height. He was probably just trying to taunt you."

"Oh. And, one more thing… He definitely _is _imitating one of the Council members. He must have learned from the Guardians…"

Cantus nodded, sighing. "Yes, I assumed as much. At least we know it's the truth, though. So we'll know to be more careful. Do you have any ideas as to who it is?"

"Dalan, right? First off, he was acting… _weird_. I don't know how to explain it, but it's true. Also, he was answering questions too quickly. Something just seemed wrong with him, and now I think I know what."

"But… that's impossible. I've known Dalan for a while… there's absolutely no way he'd fall to a demon. He would have at least called out for help… if not to me, than to one of the other Council members. It just doesn't make sense… _Any _of them would have called out. I don't get why they didn't…"

"Maybe they did. But maybe Chaos just blocked the signal?"

"Doubtful. The link between the Council members is strong. Maybe not with me, since I wouldn't be able to share a link with _all _of the Council members for generations, but at least with the others…"

"Perhaps whoever it is was working with Chaos to begin with?"

"No. Never. Maybe Chaos just ambushed them?" He shook his head, pacing. "But… If it _is _Dalan… He and Lucade are more powerful than the other members of the Council – besides me, of course. They would have been able to hold their own, at least for enough time to call out and warn the others. So I don't get why he wouldn't have…" Cantus sighed. "I don't know… We'll have to figure it out by ourselves as quickly as we can. We can't trust any of them, even if we're fairly certain it's Dalan – even though I still don't want to believe that."

I nodded. "Yeah. Maybe we can go back to them, and I can try calling out to Chaos mentally. Then, we can see if one of them visibly reacts."

"Yes, that may work. However, if it does, we'll need to attack Chaos then, when he doesn't expect it. So you'll need to be prepared."

"Oh. Of course. Magic time, then?"

He nodded. "Yes. As I had been saying, we'll need to figure out which type of magic you're best at… It should be fairly easy. We'll just see which of your abilities is strongest."

"Got it."

And so, he taught me how to effectively use each of the elements available to me. Strangely enough, I could use basically every one, though some were definitely weaker than the others. I was quite good with fire, though I didn't like to use it too much. I was trying to _not _be a force of destruction, after all. Plus, I was just a bit wary of it, for no real reason. I had quite a lot of vague feelings about things, really. Perhaps I was receiving visions of the future? Doubtful. It felt a lot more like a déjà vu sort of thing. Kind of like 'hey, I've been here before, I know what's going to happen next'. Strange, right? Ah, well, it didn't matter. And, breaking out of my thought process, that 'déjà vu' thing _will _be explained later on.

Anyways, what I'd been saying was that I tried out every element. I was definitely better at some than others, but my best – besides my mental thing, of course – was probably fire. If you know what happens later on, that's pretty ironic, huh?

I was a bit shaky with magic at first, but after multiple hours, I was fairly good at it. Of course, Cantus was an excellent teacher. If you ever meet him, don't tell him I said that.

We practiced for hours on end. Finally, Cantus held up his hand. "Alright; I think that's good for now. I need to check in with the council, so that they know nothing's happened to me."

"Oh, alright," I said, sighing and walking over to one of the trees, leaning against it. Cantus walked off.

I looked around, already bored. There had to be _something _to do around here…

"Bored already?" I heard Minerva say. I turned to face her, shrugging.

"Sorry. A bit, though. I want to _do _something. I don't want to just stand here waiting…"

Minerva shook her head sadly. "You may want to enjoy it while you can, for neither of us know what the future holds."

"Yeah, yeah, I might die a horrible death in a week, I know. So I suppose you're right… Still, though, I wish that my last week was a bit more interesting… I mean, I know that fighting with Cantus is definitely fun, but just standing here? Not so much."

Minerva looked thoughtful. "An Ayanumi that craves action, huh? Your lust for things that will amuse you may be your downfall, you know, so be careful. Normally, your race would enjoy peace. But not you, it seems. Of course, your mind _is _much more active than any other of your kind, so it would make sense…"

I froze. Did she know…? "I, uh, I thought all Ayanumi knew everything about the known universe?"

"You mean science, mathematics, and literature? They do. That's not what I mean, though, and you know it…"

I took a deep breath. "You know…?"

She smiled at me. "Of course I know of your abilities, Jenova. It was not I who gave them to you, of course, but I know that you have them. I apologize that you have to feel like an outcast for being more powerful than others…"

I shook my head unhappily, listening to the stillness of the glade. I couldn't hear Cantus, and I hoped that he couldn't hear me, either. "Yeah… Was Cantus telling the truth? About that he'd have to put me down if I had these abilities?"

She looked at me sadly. "Unfortunately so. The gods are without their main leaders now, and so they've had to come up with their own precautions. They don't want anyone that is perhaps as powerful as them, and that would be able to defy them at all. And, Cantus's part… It is the duty of the protector to serve their Guardian or Ayanumi, but also to kill him – or her, I suppose – if they ever start to become corrupted, or if they show signs of being defiant towards the gods. Of course, most Protectors would still lay down their lives for their Ayanumi, even if they became corrupt, in an attempt to save them and bring them back to their senses. That's never had to happen before, luckily, but I have the looming feeling that it shall happen someday…"

"Because of me?" I asked her bitterly. "I'm the only one with a power that will corrupt me, right?"

She sighed. "I hope that it's not you, but we'll have to see. You're definitely different than any other Ayanumi I've ever heard of. But you're strong; hopefully, you can control your abilities, and they won't end up controlling _you_."

I nodded. "Yeah, I sure hope so. Isn't there any way to know?"

"Unfortunately, no. You have a good soul; that much I know. But you have tasted true power, and, unfortunately, craved more. That much I know as well. So the rest is completely up to you."

I sighed, hanging my head dejectedly. "Yeah, you're right… I promise, I'll try my hardest to keep myself pure."

"Alright, good… And… don't let anyone know about your abilities, alright? The gods can't know."

"…Got it…"

She nodded, smiling at me and then disappearing. I sighed, pacing around with Aegis following me. I looked at her for a minute, and then walked out into the forest. I heard chirping from above me and looked up at a blue bird sitting in one of the trees.

I looked back at Aegis. "I can control myself, right? If I can control others, than the least I can do is control myself… And controlling others is easy. See?" I glanced at the bird, and it paused its song, finding itself no longer in control. I smiled slightly, reinvigorated by the same lifting sense of absolute power that I had felt last night. I forced the bird to walk around a bit before finally letting it go. It looked quite confused and flew off.

I shrugged at Aegis. "See? Easy. So it should be just as easy to control myself!" I started off towards the clearing again, and Aegis followed me, although she looked as though she was being cautious. Why, though? What had I done to worry her? Oh, well, it didn't matter.

I walked back out into the clearing and paced around, waiting for Cantus. I didn't have to wait long, though, as he came back about a minute after I had.

He sighed. "None of them know who Chaos could be. Dalan, though, was the only one that seemed different than the others… It hurts me to think that it's him, but I'm almost certain that it is."

I shook my head. "Well, at least we know, right? I'm sorry about your friend, though…"

He shrugged. "Yeah… I just don't _get _it, though. Why wouldn't he have called out to the other Councilmembers? He and Lucade are powerful enough… Surely, either of them would have been able to shout a quick warning. It would have taken barely a thought. So why didn't he…?"

"I… don't know. It_ is_ weird, though… But we'll figure it out, right?'

He nodded. "Right. I just hope that we figure it out before it's too late…" He shook his head, looking up as the darkness of night finally closed in on us. Had our sparring earlier really taken up so much time…?

Cantus smirked. "Well, look at that. You took so much time to train that it's already night."

"Hey, now! That's not fair! I got it pretty early on! You were the one that kept on pushing me!"

"Well yes, Ayanumi, that's the point of 'training'."

"Hmph!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "I swear, someday I'm gonna have you down on your knees before me. _Then _we'll see who's the better fighter, huh?"

He smiled teasingly at me. "We'll see, Ayanumi. We'll see. And if it happens to be the other way around, as it will be, I promise not to taunt you about it… too much."

I grinned. "Yeah, sure, _whatever_ you say, Cantus."

He nodded, still smiling slightly. "Well, I should get back before I kill you myself instead of waiting for Chaos… See you tomorrow."

I smirked. "Yeah, whatever… 'Night…"

He turned and walked off, even though I knew that he was just going to wait for me to go to sleep before coming back. Even though I hated him with a passion, I had to admit that he was a good protector. Again, don't tell him I said that. If you do, I'll deny it and destroy every copy of this. I swear.

Anyways, I walked back into the platform in the middle with Aegis behind me. As soon as we were both safely in, I formed the 'door'. Aegis lied down, as did I, resting my head on her. I summoned my cloak, draping it over myself. Something bothered me, though…

Had my cloak always had a slightly gray hue to it…?


	5. In the Fire

**-Disclaimer- Disclaimer for 2016!**

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**((A/N: WOW I'm awful at this. I haven't played FF7 in around a year, so once again, my view is completely askew. Mainly, with the Forgotten City. I MADE RANDOM THINGS COME FROM NOWHERE. Gah. And I can't just be like 'Oh, they fell into the lake' because I added landscaping that's bigger than the freaking under-lake city as a whole. BUT I looked at a picture of the City again – for about an hour, it seemed – so I've got things down now. Sort of. Enough. YOU GUYS HAVE TO CATCH THESE THINGSSSS, because now I feel like an idiot, hehe. Anyways, to the story and such.))**

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_**In the Fire**_

Two days later, I was definitely starting to get the hang of things. I had gotten the hang of both physical and magical fighting, and was becoming quite good at both.

We had yet to figure out which of the Councilmembers was actually Chaos, but we were both fairly certain by now that it was Dalan. He just did _not _seem to like the rest of the Council whatsoever, which was pretty telling.

Over the few days, Cantus and I had started becoming better friends than we had been at first. We were still always taunting and insulting each other, yes, but at least we trusted each other more than we had originally.

I sighed, walking up to Cantus, who nodded at me. "Morning. Now… We've been training for quite a while, but I just realized… this is your world, and you've only seen a small part of it. So, since you can teleport, what do you say we familiarize you with the rest of the world…?"

I looked at him, stunned. "Really?!"

He nodded. "Yeah. I need to go back to Korsanth for a minute to let the Council know that I'll be pretty far away for a bit, and I need to look something up, so you can wait here. I promise: I'll only be a minute." He nodded off to the side. "And, I know you don't need to, but there's a river over there, so you can wash yourself off or go swimming, or something."

I nodded, teleporting him to Korsanth and then teleporting right back. I told Aegis to keep watch, then headed over to the river, sitting next to it and watching my reflection in the crystal-clear water. The water was quite deep for a simple river – six feet at its deepest, maybe – and ran for as far as I could see. Wow, this world really _was _beautiful, wasn't it…?

I shrugged, morphing my outfit into a two-piece swimsuit – that was more like underclothes, since our world didn't really have swimsuits at that time – and jumped into the icy water. First off, let me say that I wasn't wearing a stripper outfit or anything; my outfit covered just as much as the outfit of most women in modern fantasy games or anime. Also, since my stomach was showing slightly, I noted that I, of course, didn't have a navel; but it wasn't like anyone would ever see that, so only Cantus and I would know that I wasn't exactly 'natural'...

Strangely enough, even though it was cold out anyways, I loved the freezing water. Unfortunately, my peace only lasted for a minute or two.

Now, don't blame me for this, but I wasn't expecting to see anything besides myself and maybe Aegis. I like spiders _now,_ but when it was my first time seeing one… hey, those things are creepy.

So, anyways, I was just minding my own business, when all of a sudden, this giant- okay, so it wasn't that big. More like a smaller tarantula, just less fuzzy. Anyways, it was suddenly right next to me, watching me with its beady little eyes. I freaked out, not quite sure what it was, and did the first thing I knew to do: teleported to get away from it. Unfortunately, I didn't really set any destination for my teleportation, and somehow ended up in the Korsanth library.

My teleportation seemed to have dried me off, so I just looked around, completely forgetting about my outfit. I seemed to be alone. Seemed.

"…Ahem… Jenova?"

I jumped, turning around to face Cantus, who was just kind of looking at me, seeming slightly annoyed.

"Ohhhh, hi, Cantus! Pfft… This isn't Vitrum Sylva! I'll, uh… I'll just be going, now?"

He held up his hand to stop me. "Stop right there." He stood up and put a book he was holding down. "May I ask what you were doing…?"

Oh, great… I was going to get a lecture, wasn't I…? "Eh, I was hanging out in that river. I got bored. Then suddenly, this huge, fire-breathing spider came out of nowhere! I teleported, but it seemed that my teleportation didn't work as intended, since I, you know, didn't actually have anywhere in mind to go…"

"Jenova, there are no-"

"_Okay_, so it was a normal sized spider! But those things are creepy! And I'd never seen one before!"

He glanced at me quizzically. "And, if I can ask – and I can –… why were you hanging out in the river dressed like that…?"

"What? You don't like it?" I sighed when he just stared at me, waiting for me to finish joking and actually answer. "Well, I didn't want to get my pretty suit wet."

"…You could have just gotten a new one, you know…"

"…You're no fun."

He rolled his eyes, looking me up and down. "I have to be serious when you're… not. Honestly; what if someone else had seen you?! Not only do you look ridiculous, but you're still in your normal form?! You're so incredibly lucky that your bounced teleportation landed here…"

I poked him. "Ridiculous, eh? Oh, you know you like it…"

He rolled his eyes again. "Not at all, Ayanumi."

I grinned slyly at him. "Oh…? Then why haven't you yelled at me to change back yet…?"

He turned away from me. "Because I was assuming you'd have the mind to do so without direction."

"…Why'd you tur-"

"_Just _change back. _Please_. And then we can finally get going…"

"Oh, right!" I said, quickly morphing my outfit back. He finally turned back around to face me again, nodding.

"Much better. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah, sure…"

He nodded. "First things first: you've only looked around Korsanth once. So, I should probably show you around here… Change into Aya first, though."

I paused. "Aya…?" Why did that name feel familiar…?

He sighed. "Your Cetra-ish form. One of the Councilmembers is Chaos, and you _really _want to go out like you are now…? Why don't you just _yell _at everyone about who you are?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever…" I changed into my color-swap and different outfit – that I hated because it was a dress, I should add – glaring at Cantus. "Better?"

"Yes. Now, come with me."

Without even waiting for me, he walked outside. I followed him, annoyed.

He led me out of the library, taking me along the pathway. I noticed that there was one turret that was off to the side and wasn't repeated on the other side of the castle, and looked over at Cantus. "What's in there…?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, really. Storage, mostly. Magical artifacts for talking to the Planet, and such…" He turned and started walking to the other side of the castle, quickening his pace. I rolled my eyes, following him until we were at the other side, now. The whole thing was basically mirrored on either side, except for that one building and the platform below us that led to the altar-thing. There were three levels of it: the one the pathway ended on, one above it, and one below it. The one on the bottom was only on the side of the path to the altar, and it was made of dense stone. The other two were basically added-one layers that led between each of the 'small' buildings. Each building had an entrance that could be accessed from at least one of the pathways. Well, every one _except _the building that I was starting to think was some sort of prison fortress. The only entrance was down just above the lake with no visible pathway to it. Weird…

"What _is _this place, anyways…?" I asked, looking around at the whole castle. Again, there were people here and there, but very few.

"In truth? A safehouse, really. If the Planet is in danger, and there are Cetra or other creatures that are, at the time, unable to fight or protect themselves or the Planet, then they can come here."

"Oh, I guess that makes… sense?"

"Yes, it does. For now, though, it's just kind of… here. Anyways, the other rooms are mainly storage."

"Just like that one over there supposedly is?" I asked, gesturing over at the prison turret. He rolled his eyes. Oh no; here came a sarcastic response…

"Yes; just like that one. I don't get your obsession with it; it's not like your evil alter-ego was banished and then imprisoned there…"

I laughed slightly. "See; you _do _have a sense of humor. I _knew _it, hehe!"

He smiled. "I don't know the _meaning _of the word 'humor' anymore. At least, until I met you. That's not a compliment, by the way."

"I'm still taking it as one. Now! Is that it?"

"…I suppose so. There's not really much else to show… Now, shall we get going?"

I nodded, and he took me back into the library. "Alright," he said, pulling out a map from nearby and pointing to a continent in the middle of it. "Can you teleport us there, Ayanumi?"

"Sure, whatever you say… gah, there are no annoying nicknames I can call you!"

"Heh…"

I glared at him, then grabbed him and teleported us to the exact location of where he'd been pointing. We landed up on a ledge, overlooking some small farming town that was more like people camping on a farm than having an actual town. But hey; they were getting there, and obviously, this would turn out to be much more…

Unlike modernly, the whole area was covered in plains and forests, similar to the Northern Continent. The town – town_s_,actually – were resting on the plains, just close enough to the forest for the denizens to be able to run to the safety of the trees if the need arose.

For the first time since I'd woken up, it started raining. Very lightly, but it was still noticeable. I hadn't even realized that there had been clouds in the sky here, unlike in the Northern Continent.

I looked around. "Cool… but, why are we here?"

Cantus sighed. "This is where the humans live, for now. I just wanted to show you, because I think it's best if you stay away from them… There's a reason why the Planet no longer even tries to communicate with them."

"Oh… But, can't we help them?"

"I've tried. They don't want our help; trust me. And if they want to do things on their own, then they can do things on their own." Well, it was obvious what _he _thought about the humans…

I sighed. "Oh… Alright…" I looked down into the camp. They seemed to be doing fine on their own, more or less… I looked off into the distance, and I could see that there were multiple other places like this as well. Something was… wrong, though.

I started to walk forward, but Cantus grabbed my arm. "Hey, where are _you _going…? I said to stay away; not go make friends…"

"Yeah, I know… Something just seems… _wrong_."

He paused. "Chaos…?"

"I think so… I want to go find out."

"Huh? No! What if he kills you?!"

I rolled my eyes, walking forward anyways. "He won't. He doesn't even know who I _am_."

"True, but he knows that I know you; that alone could put you in peril. He may off you to get to me, and in turn, you, although he won't know it…"

I sighed, slightly confused. "Well, yes, but does it matter?"

"Seriously…? You're going to put yourself in peril for those that have forsaken the Planet…?!"

"They haven't 'forsaken' the Planet! They're just… different than you. Does that _honestly _make them pariahs?"

"No. What makes them pariahs is the fact that they'd rather live lives of leisure than live to help the Planet! That's not _right_. Surely, you must see that."

"Perhaps. But are you really going to abandon them to be killed by Chaos?! _That's _not right!"

He started to reply, but then, things started taking a turn for the worse. One of the nearby villages just simply… _blew up_. It looked like… like… Ever seen The Walking Dead? Remember what happened at the CDC? Yeah, it looked like that.

I stared in horror, then immediately ran as fast as I could towards it. Cantus, though, caught up with me, grabbing me around the waist and holding me back. "Jenova! You really think that that's smart?!"

"I don't care!" I snarled at him. "Let me _go_!"

"I'm _not _going to let you run into a trap!"

I shook my head, spinning around and trying to hit him, but he grabbed both of my wrists. I glared at him with hatred. "Let. Go. Of. Me. Or I'll make you regret this."

He shook his head. "You can do whatever you want to me, Jenova. I'm _not _going to let you walk into a trap!"

Finally, though, I managed to twist out of his grip, getting away from him and running to the smoldering town. He chased after me, but I was far faster.

Finally, I arrived at the town, slowing my pace. I walked into the center of the smoldering ruins; what was left of them, at least. I didn't see anybody, but… that probably wasn't a good thing. I looked around in dismay, and then dropped my head. Cantus stopped at the edge of the town, as though he had hit a barrier. I saw him look down at the ground, where a charred ring signaled how far the blast had reached. The fires around the town wouldn't be able to escape the blast area, as anything flammable within ten yards of edge of the town had been charred, which gave the fires no escape.

After a moment of silence, Cantus slowly walked up to me, but still kept a slight distance. "Jenova…" he said quietly, but I ignored him.

I fell to my knees, looking around. "I… I'm supposed to be _protecting _these people! If I can't do something so simple, then how am I supposed to protect the whole Planet?!"

Cantus took a deep breath, and then cautiously walked up to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "That's exactly why Chaos did this; he _wants _you to think that. You _can't _let him win."

I was quiet for a moment. "I… right. Yeah, you're… you're right…"

I lifted my head, feeling the heat of the flames on my face. Then, as the fires burned around me, I just couldn't help it; I snapped. I shakily stood up, chuckling slightly. "He… he's the one who planned this. He wants to get to me?" I smirked, and let go of myself for a moment, flipping around and throwing a blast of fire at one of the nearby house frames that was already burning down. Cantus froze, looking at me with worry. But I only laughed. "Heh, well, he made his move! And it was the wrong one..."


	6. Artifacts of the Past

**-Disclaimer- Did I mention that I liked rice?**

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**A/N: Ah! Another GoC post without a DR one! What the heck?! I should fix that... Anyways, thanks so much, Hazza! That means a lot. ((Also, yeah, you're right. So I guess I won't be careful with the landscaping in the future, haha.)) Alright... that's really it. To the story!**

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_**Artifacts of the Past**_

We continued like that for a while, although with less spontaneous combustion. Cantus was normally training me, but when he wasn't, he was showing me around the rest of Gaia. Since I could teleport us anywhere, it was actually quite easy. Cantus showed me each of the continents – which had been closer together at that time, our own version of your world's continental drift – and everything in them. The Western Continent was less tame than the others then. The Northern Continent, of course, was the one that I had become used to. And we tried to stay away from the Eastern Continent, but he brought me there every now and then. Luckily, my sanity had returned, so I wasn't in danger of freaking out again whenever we went there…

Anyways, Cantus and I were fighting again when things got interesting, and when an important piece of the puzzle – that you guys probably know about, if you know what happens – came into play. Chaos hadn't spoken to me since that one night; my dreams had been completely blank. However, I was still getting more worried with every day, and Cantus could obviously tell that.

I was in my normal form with my normal outfit – minus the cloak – so I obviously wasn't being too careful. Luckily, though, _very _few people dared to ever come here, since they knew this place was sacred.

Cantus and I made our way around the glade. Just as always, he was stronger while I was quicker. I was using my magic far more than him, but his staff was obviously enchanted and could block most of the weaker attacks that I threw at him. I wasn't using anything too strong; I didn't want to kill him, since that would probably cause more problems than solutions. Probably.

I kept on launching fire attacks at him, and I noticed that he was getting used to it. Which was good. You see, I had quickly figured out a few things about how to best win in fights. Thanks to my abilities to imitate others, I could also imitate their abilities. They would get used to fighting their abilities, and then I would easily switch back to mine. Same with them – and of course, by 'them', I mean Cantus – getting used to my own abilities; I could stay using the same set of abilities for a while, and then I would change my abilities without a thought and completely surprise whoever I was fighting.

I slid across the slick 'grass', my every step making an audible 'crunch', yet I never once broke the glass I was standing on. The vibrant glade seemed to be following my movements, the transparent branches swaying just slightly in the cold, dry wind.

I dug my heel into the ground, launching myself at Cantus and leaping over his head, sliding again as I hit the ground and darting past him. He raced after me, and I leapt up against a tree, pushing myself off of it and over his head again. I landed in a crouching position, the grass crunching beneath me as I instantly stood up.

Just as Cantus was probably expecting another fire attack, I pulled out my swords and struck him, barely giving him enough time to block. Because I had been so quick, though, in his effort to block, he hadn't watched his footing, and he fell to the ground. Unfortunately for me, since we had been fairly close, when he fell, he – probably on purpose – kicked my legs out from under me, forcing me to fall as well. Unfortunately for both of us, I fell right on top of him.

"Gah!" I growled, glaring at him. "What was _that_ for?!"

He laughed – something I wasn't used to. "Just some payback, of course. Plus, I wanted to finally hit you, for once. You were getting on my nerves."

I smirked. "Isn't that, like, against the code of the Protectors or whatever? To hurt the Ayanumi unless they need to?

"Heh, if so, it was worth it."

"Bah, whatever…"

He rolled his eyes. "Now, can you please get off of me…?"

I glanced down at our positions, and a sly smile spread across my face. I tapped him on the chest. "Aw, you're just mad because you wish our positions were switched…"

He looked honestly quite surprised by my comment, but only smirked. "Not at all. Now…?"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever…" I stood up, helping him to his feet. I brushed myself off and picked up my swords.

Cantus, however, sat down on the platform, since it had two levels. "By the way…" he said, motioning for me to sit down next to him, which I warily did. Oh great… Was I going to get a lecture for having fun instead of being serious _again_…?

He nodded. "Since we both know that you're going to have to probably fight Chaos in a few days at most, I thought you may need some extra protection. So I took one of the shattered pieces of glass and used a bit of the Planet's magic – which works just as well as yours – to further the protective abilities of the glass."

"Oh, uh, thanks?"

He held something up for me to see. At first, I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it was a necklace. It was an octagonal piece of the glass on a black cord. The light struck the glass just right, and a thousand different colors danced in the glass. Etched into the front of the glass was an infinity; probably a result of the protective spell. There was another symbol etched into the back: the meteor. Yeah, the same one that's the symbol for the game version of this. Coincidence, eh?

Cantus saw me looking at the symbols, and quickly explained. "The infinity is the sign of the goddess of the Light, as Minerva has told me. The goddess of Light was the one who created the planets and their Guardians through some sort of spell, more than… 13 billion years ago? Something like that. Anyways, since the infinity is her symbol, it's also the symbol of the Guardians and the Ayanumi."

"Oh, alright…"

"Then, the meteor is the symbol of strength. Many people see meteors as destructive elements, but they can represent so much more than just that. I'm sure that you won't take it as a destructive element, correct?" Ah, when you know the future, it's just filled with _so much irony_, yeah?

"Oh, yeah, of course."

He tilted his head at me. "May I?"

"Oh, uh, sure," I said, letting him put the necklace chain around my neck. The cord ends grafted together magically, and I assumed that I would be able to unbind them if I ever wanted to.

I smiled slightly at him; something he wasn't used to seeing. Then, I surprised him even farther. "…Thanks, Cantus."

He looked at me, his expression definitely telling that I had been right; he was incredibly surprised by my comment. But he smiled as well, nodding. "Yeah, no problem."

I sighed, leaning against the glass. Aegis, who had been asleep, lazily stuck her head out of the open part of the glass, and then pulled her head back in, probably going right back to sleep. I shook my head. "What if this doesn't work, Cantus…? What if the Planet dies… because I fail?"

Cantus shook his head, grabbing me by my shoulders and turning me to face him. "Don't you think like that, alright? You _will _defeat Chaos, alright?! And, if you don't… I don't think it's the Planet you should be immediately worried about, though I hate to say it. Jenova, you're probably giving this guy a lot of trouble, without letting him know even slightly who you are. You think he likes that? I highly doubt he'll give you a quick death…"

I smirked. "Gee, Cantus, thanks so much for telling me that I'm probably going to get tortured to death in the next few days… That really helps. Really."

Cantus rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"You sure…? Because that's definitely what it sounded like…"

Cantus shook his head. "Not at all. I meant that you should try to _keep _that from happening, alright? I know that it's an Ayanumi's duty to protect their planet no matter what they must endure to do so, but…"

I smiled at him. "Don't worry, Cantus. I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me in the slightest. But I've already made my decision: if it _does _come to either my life or the Planet's, I _will _protect the Planet."

Cantus sighed. "Yeah, I know that that's probably best… Just… What if I'm right? What if, even if we try our hardest, we still lose, and he captures you instead kills you at first? I apologize for being so worried, but… I just don't want to think about what someone who's been destroying _planets _would do to someone that had been annoying him if he ever caught them… What would happen if these upcoming events really _did _turn out like that?"

I shrugged. "If that happens, then I'll take it, of course. I'm not weak, Cantus; I can take a little pain. Now! Shall we get back to training, so that I may not lose at all?"

He smiled slightly. "Oh, yeah, of course." He stood up, grabbing his staff again.

I paused. "By the way, Cantus… How are the humans, after everything that happened…?"

"How should I know…?"

"You didn't check on them…?"

He smirked. "They don't like me. They assume I want to turn them back to helping the Planet. Which, you know, I _do_, but…"

I thought for a moment. "Hmm… Perhaps I can help?"

"Er… If they don't want me helping, I _doubt _they want the Ayanumi to help…"

I grinned, altering my form to look like Aya. "Ah, but… They won't _know _I'm the Ayanumi, hm?"

He rolled his eyes. "You'd rather be a diplomat than train to save yourself from everything we _just _talked about? Seriously?"

I sighed. "Cantus… I _want _to survive, but if I _do_, the world will still have issues."

"That we can work on _later_. You just don't get it, do you? If you're lost, we're _all _lost. Diplomacy can _wait_."

I shook my head. "We don't know how long I have. Honestly, what if I _do _lose, even though we spend all of this time training? Then my entire life would have been spent training in fear."

"…Maybe you _would _be a good diplomat, with how you can twist your words to sound… Fine. But I'll have to stay in the background. Alright?"

"Fine by me!" I immediately grabbed him and teleported back to the bluff above the human towns. It was a dry and windy, and the grass around the villages was blowing gently. I looked over at Cantus. "Alright. Ready?"

He sighed. "Whatever…"

I grinned, leading him down to the village. Immediately, one of the wary villagers came out to meet us. He was a guy in perhaps his early thirties, with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing similar clothes to what the Cetra would wear; so, it seemed like they weren't _too _different yet…

He glanced at me for only a moment, and then looked at Cantus. "What are _you _doing here…?"

Cantus sighed. "Hello, Derick. It wasn't my choice; it was hers." He nodded at me. "Anyways, we're, er, here to see if you need any help…"

Derick looked surprised, but shook his head. "There's not much to help with… One of the villages seems to have spontaneously combusted, but you already seem to know that…"

I nodded. "Yeah, we were nearby. We ran to see what had happened, but we were too late…"

He sighed. "I doubt there's much you could have done… Thank you, though."

I paused. "By the way… Did you see anyone leaving the area yesterday, after the explosion? We're trying to figure out who did it, and we have a few suspects, but we're not certain…"

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Whoever it was… I don't know, really. It's strange. They must be some sort of mage, or something…"

"Yeah, or something…" I sighed. "You're _sure _you don't need any help…?"

He nodded. "Yes, we're fine. You may or may not think us capable of taking care of ourselves, but I assure you that that is not the case in the slightest."

Cantus shrugged. "Yes, you've all more than proven yourselves… Don't be afraid to come to the Cetra for help, though. This is _all _of our Planet; it doesn't belong to any one race."

"Right… I'll be sure to do so. For now, though, I believe it's best we stay separate from one another. The people want to believe that we can survive in the long run, and getting aid from the Cetra would demolish that belief…"

I sighed. "Alright, alright… See you later then, I suppose…"

With that, we went our separate ways. I teleported Cantus and I back to Vitrum Sylva as soon as we were out of sight. Immediately, he gave me an 'I told you so' look, and I rolled my eyes.

"Ah, don't you say a thing. At least he was _nice_; you made it sound like they were a bunch of savages."

Cantus sighed. "Sorry, but now you see why I'd rather we keep our distance. They want to survive on their own, so I believe that it's best to let them do just that. They seem to the think the same thing."

"Yeah, I guess so… Anyways, should we just get back to what we were doing…?"

He nodded. "Yes. Definitely." He immediately pulled out his staff, and I sighed, changing back into my original form and outfit and then pulling out my own weapons.

We fought for hours, with Cantus constantly correcting my fighting stance. Our techniques were different, but he seemed to realize that, adjusting his teachings to fit my fighting style perfectly. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we finally exhausted ourselves, going our 'separate ways' for the night.

I sighed, lying down against Aegis after I had gone into the center platform and set up the fake 'door'. I summoned my cloak again, which hadn't changed color since I had last noticed it. I also hadn't used my mind-control lately… coincidence? Maybe… I just figured that I'd have to wait and see.


	7. Our Solemn Hour

**-Disclaimer- So... There was this Spanish-speaking frog...**

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**((A/N: Wait, it's not Sunday… Gah. Anyways, thanks Hazza for the catch, haha. No need to apologize; reviews are for critique, yeah? Anyways… So, I was looking around, and it looks like the longest fanfiction has something crazy like a couple million words… Hmm… Challenge accepted… Unless I start running out of ideas, I've got a couple million years to work with here, hm? Eh, I don't know; it would probably get boring for you guys, I'd assume… We'll see. Alright, to the story.))**

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_**Our Solemn Hour  
**_

As I woke up in the morning, I realized that it had been a week since I had first woken up, and I was still alive. Awesome for me! Or maybe he was just planning my death, which wasn't as awesome… Well, either way, I was still alive. I could get through this. I just had the feeling that I would live; that was good, right? Surely nothing bad could happen if I was still alive in the future, like I was all but certain I would be… Yeah, I know, I actually thought that at that point. Too bad I was right and wrong at the same time…

I walked outside with Aegis. Cantus was already standing there, waiting for me. He nodded. "Morning."

I paused. "Is it late…?"

"No, not at all. Sorry, I was just a bit anxious; I didn't get very much sleep last night…"

I paused. "Neither did I… I kept on waking up… Strange that it was like that for both of us…"

He looked quite worried. "Actually, it's not too strange; it's just simply bad. That means that Chaos is intending on making a move soon; perhaps even today."

"That's… not good. Should we go see the Council?" Why did I say that…? Bad me. If only I could go back and hit myself… Please say no, Cantus... please say no…

"Hmm… Yeah, that'd probably be best… It would be better if we knew that we had at least most of the Council behind us." Darn him… Oh well, I might as well tell the story accurately…

I nodded. "Alrighty then! Let's go!" I looked back at Aegis. "You stay here, alright?" She just kind of looked at me, and I nodded. "Alright!" I grabbed Cantus, and off we went, teleporting to Korsanth. This is the part where things started to get bad… Like, _really _bad.

"Jenova!" Cantus said quickly. "You're still in your normal form…"

I paused, realizing he was right, and I quickly changed my appearance. "Alright, thanks for that. Let's go." We walked into the city, but things were strangely quiet. Sure, most Cetra were normally out and about, but still…

Cantus paused. "I contacted the Council, but they're already here… Looks like they're the only ones here…"

We ran through the deserted city, getting to the main building and rushing down the stairs. All we could hear was the trickle of water from the lake and our own footsteps.

It didn't take very long to get down to the platform in the center of the lake at the bottom of the city. The whole Council was waiting for us as we approached. Dalan paused, looking at me.

"Why is she here…?"

Lucade stepped up next to him. "Isn't it obvious by now? She's the Guardian."

I paused. "Wow, that was a quick – and wrong – assumption…"

Lucade shook his head. "We don't have time for games. I know that we have a traitor in the Council, but without the Guardian, even one intruder against all of us would be unfair to the Council. So? Is she the Guardian on not?"

Cantus shook his head. "Never mind that. Lucade… I never told you we had a traitor… I said we _might_."

Lucade rolled his eyes, tilting his head so that some of his shoulder-length black hair fell behind him. "You aren't exactly discreet, Cantus. It's quite obvious that this world is in danger; I don't know why you want to hide it from us…"

Cantus sighed. "We needed to find out who it was. And… I think we have."

The Council members all looked at each other in worry. But I noticed something… their movements were synchronized, in a way. I didn't notice it at first, but after a moment of watching them, I finally started to see the repeating pattern. All of them except for Dalan and Lucade. What was going on here…? Wait… No…

Dalan shook his head. "Yes? Who?"

Lucade smirked. "Yes, who?"

Cantus started to say something, but I grabbed his shoulder. "Cantus…" He looked over at me, and I continued after a moment. "That's why. Chaos… He did take over one of them… Lucade or Dalan, I mean. And you… you wondered why someone as powerful as them wouldn't have had time to warn the others, or to call for help. But you see… they did. One of them did. But it… their call fell on deaf ears." I looked out at the Council. "We thought that it was Dalan, and only him, but… it's everyone _but _him…"

Cantus looked at me like I was crazy, but Lucade laughed, clapping. "Very good! I didn't think you would get that! You're quite the perceptive one, aren't you… what's your name? I know it's not Ayanumi, since that's your race… I believe Cantus called you Jenova just outside of the city, correct? I didn't see either of you, but I could hear your voices…"

Dalan ran over to us. "I… I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you; I did! But he… He said that he would kill you if you knew. So I had to stay silent."

Cantus nodded, pulling out his staff. I pulled out my swords, before realizing that I didn't have them. Yet they were there, as though I had pulled them from the very air.

Lucade grinned. Every other Council member around him faded away, and he nodded. "You wish to fight? Fine, then! Bring your futile attempts; it will all be in vain."

Ignoring his attempts to demotivate us, we all launched into a battle. It didn't last for very long, though, as he only seemed interested in me. After maybe a minute at most, he leapt straight forward and grabbed me.

Just as how I would grab Cantus and teleport, Lucade – or rather, Chaos – harshly grabbed me and teleported the both of us far away; only after a moment did I realize that we were in Vitrum Sylva.

I managed to get free from him, and I ran as fast as I could. Storm clouds had started gathering, and a heavy rain had started falling. Thunder would send a resounding _boom _around the area every now and then, and forked strikes of lighting would occasionally tear through the sky. Had I been normal, I had no doubt that the wind would have been frigid; however, I didn't even notice if it was or not.

Thanks to the rain, the grass was ever more slick than normal, and I fell repeatedly, sliding for a moment and then getting up, running, and repeating it all over again. I wasn't sure _how _Chaos didn't catch up to me; he was probably just amused.

I managed to get into the glade in the center and dove into the glass thing, putting up the wall and hoping that he couldn't tell the difference. Aegis was gone; she must have sensed the coming battle and fled.

Finally, everything was silent. Mostly silent, of course, as the rain was still beating down, pounding on the roof of the sanctuary. The darkness of the clouds cast a shadow over everything, making it even darker than it normally was; even the lighting had ceased. I leaned against one of the walls, breathing heavily. I changed my outfit back; I wasn't even sure how I had fought and run so effectively in a dress. However, I kept my appearance changed; maybe I could convince him that I wasn't the Ayanumi? Damn Cantus for using that as my alias…

Then, I saw an extra shadow cast on the glass, and I knew that he was in the glade. I quieted my breathing. Maybe he wouldn't know I was here…

"Come now, little Ayanumi…" he said, walking around my little sanctuary. "I'll try to make your death a quick one… Although, you've given me quite a lot of trouble, so maybe I won't…"

He circled me once, then walked off. Now, you know how there are always those horror movies where there's at least one stereotypical girl? The one who gets chased by the big scary whatever, and locks herself in a closet, or a bathroom, or a small room, et cetera? And then she thinks she's safe, and so she leaves her sanctuary even though everyone watching is yelling at her to not leave, and ninety-nine out of a hundred times she immediately gets caught? Yeah, I was that girl this one time. Stupid me…

I idiotically tried to dart out of the sanctuary, running into the forest. Chaos, though, was standing right there, like some kind of living Slenderman. I tried to dodge him, but my movements were too quick. Again, I slid on the grass, falling to the ground. He grabbed me by the neck, lifting me off of the ground.

He smirked. "Well, that was easy…" He looked me up and down. "Hmmm… I know that's not your real form. You can't fool me…"

I smirked. "I'm not… who you think I am…"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes you are. I've been hunting your kind for quite a while… I know an Ayanumi when I see one, even if you don't look like one. That first day that I saw you, I was fairly certain that it was you, but I wanted to be sure. When you effectively denied that it had been you, I'll admit that you convinced me for a while. But when the protector of a Guardian is spending quite a lot of time with someone for no real reason, well… it's pretty condemning." He nodded. "Now, I want to see your real form before I kill you. You're the first female of your species that I've come across… I want to know what you look like." He thought for a moment. "Of course, I know that, scientifically, you have no real gender, but by your races standards and by non-scientific standards, you'd definitely be a women. So, what sets you apart from the others…?"

I glared at him. "How should I know…?" I noticed that the rain was completely soaking the both of us, but neither of us cared.

He rolled his eyes. "If you're not going to show me, then I'll just have to make you, I suppose…"

I didn't understand what he meant at first, but then, a searing pain shot throughout my entire body. I felt as though my every atom was being torn apart; and that was probably what was happening. Since the change in my appearance was on a cellular level – i.e., my own cells hid within cells that had a changed genetic structure, allowing me to be whatever I wanted – he would probably be able to force me back into me original form by tearing my original cells away from the ones that they were hiding in. I cried out, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was like iron. Left with not much of a choice, I forced the rest of my transformation, my outward appearance going back to its original state. Since I only ever changed my visible appearance and not actually my body itself, it only took a few seconds.

Chaos nodded. "Good girl. See? That wasn't too hard, was it?"

I smirked, and he dropped me. He pulled out a large sword and held it under the base of my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Now, don't struggle, or I'll just make this last longer. Understand?"

I could tell that that was exactly what he wanted, though. But I wasn't about to give him that pleasure, so I only shrugged. "Whatever… Just get it over with…" But I had a plan. Smart me. Stupid me.

Chaos paused. "First, though, tell me… Can you, by chance, manipulate other living beings?"

I froze, and then quickly shook my head. "Is such a thing possible…?" Whatever he wanted my abilities for couldn't be good, so I wasn't about to tell him the truth.

He nodded. "Oh yes, it's very possible. One and only one of the Ayanumi has that ability… that is the one that I truly want to find. Not only will that Ayanumi's powers be invaluable to me, but the one marked with those abilities is the most powerful of their kind. Plus, better yet, the gods will make no move to save whoever it is. They'd rather let me kill that Ayanumi than save them and give them the chance to one day defy them." He smirked. "But if it's not you, that's fine."

Just as he was about to strike me, I pulled out my own weapons, blocking him and darting to the side. He grinned, obviously having expected my move, but he played along anyways and fought me. I could see his annoyance, though, when he wasn't able to take me out quickly. In fact, I kept the battle up for quite a while. Long enough, unfortunately or not, for another to show up…

"Jenova!" Cantus shouted, running in and stepping in front of me.

Chaos rolled his eyes. "Get out of my way."

"Never. If you want to get to her, you're going to have to kill me."

"…Alright."

"Wait!" I quickly said, pushing Cantus to the side, much to his and Chaos's surprise. "No. Leave Cantus alone, and I won't fight you. Or I will. Whatever you want."

Chaos smirked. "The Ayanumi protecting her protector from trying to protect her? Wow, that's a new one."

Cantus shook his head at me. "Exactly, Ayanumi. It's my duty to protect you… not the other way around."

I shook my head. "I don't care."

"But-"

"_Leave_," I growled, and Cantus froze; though not of his own accord. I could feel him struggling against my control, but I didn't let him take over. He stared at me.

"You… you can…" he choked out, and I looked away.

"Leave. Now." I released him, and expected him to run off because of what had just happened. But, for some idiotic reason, he stayed.

"I should have known… How didn't I…? Why didn't you tell me? No, there will be time for that later." He nodded, standing next to me, much to my surprise. Chaos, though, was grinning madly.

"I _knew _it was you," he said gleefully, grabbing Cantus and throwing him to the side before either of us could do anything. Then, before I could even move, he smashed his sword against the side of my head, knocking me out almost instantly. However, he still had time to say one last thing: "Soon, Ayanumi. Soon, you'll be mine."


	8. Never Turn Back

**-Disclaimer.- Garrosh wouldn't drop the mana bomb on the disclaimer, I bet... (Seriously, though, I don't own the games used in this, nor the songs.)**

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**((A/N: 'ello. DR chapter will be up in a minute; I'm reading it over. Now, as to this… Sorry, I forgot to mention, the necklace only protects her from magical harm. That comes in later in DR. Also, yeah, I've already written this, and I was slightly just joking about the record, haha. But I only drag Jenova to a few extra worlds in this at the moment, and just summarize the rest. Alright, to the story.))**

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_**Never Turn Back**_

When I first woke up, I noticed that I was still on the ground. The grass, specifically, and not some hard ground. Had Chaos left me alone…? That didn't make sense… Why would he have done that…? Wait… had he left me for Cantus?! Was he going to capture Cantus, and use him to force me to help destroy my own planet?! Because he obviously didn't want me dead; if he did, he already would have killed me…

I sat up, groaning; every one of my joints hurt. Had he really hit me with that much force…? Gah, if only my cool little amulet-thing protected my from physical harm as well…

I opened my eyes, shaking my head in order to fully wake myself up. I looked around for any sign of Cantus or Chaos, and what I saw horrified me. Not because of either of them, no, but… because of the landscape… This _wasn't _Vitrum Sylva…

First off, the trees around me were normal, and the grass was green. At least, it was green around me. A few feet away from me, though, it had become black. Not dead, just… wrong. The sky was strange, too. It was blue, but fading. The landscape farther away was slightly rocky, with the grass quickly receding. The ground was becoming red, the dirt devoid of any dark browns. There was a kingdom, but it was crumbling; however, there was movement every now and then, so perhaps it wasn't completely abandoned…

I put my hands on my head, slamming my eyes shut. "No… no, no, no…" I curled up into a ball. What did he want from me?!

"Oh, get over it," said a cold voice from next to me, and I instantly recognized it as Chaos' voice. I shook my head, looking up at him. He was still in Lucade's form; probably so that he didn't freak me out. Except now, he was wearing black armor. You know, I just realized that there are a _lot _of guys in this universe that have pale skin, long black hair, and black armor… How strange… Oh well, I'm getting off-topic.

He smirked. "You look a bit pitiful, you know. Stand up; you're not going to accomplish anything by wallowing in self-pity."

I glared at him, reluctantly standing up and brushing myself off. He nodded.

"Good; you actually know how to listen. First things first…" Surprisingly, he tossed me my weapons. Not wasting a second, I instantly attacked him. But, unfortunately, I was off-balance, and he was gone before I could even reach him. Suddenly, he was behind me. Before I could even turn around, he grabbed my left wrist tightly, twisting it sharply. I cried out, dropping both of my weapons and pulling away from him, then falling back to the ground again. He burst out laughing.

"Ah, good! You don't ignore your rage; you give in to it. That's good! This won't be as hard as I had first surmised…"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Mmmm… You'll see. Now, I won't tell you where I've taken you, but I _will _tell you one thing: the residents are _very _hostile right now."

"'Right now'…? What… happened?"

He grinned. "Well, let's just say that they know about the Guardian, and… well, his Protector has recently gone… 'missing', heh… I made this one easy for you. All you have to do now is find and kill the Guardian."

I stared at him in horror. "You… you want me to do _what_?! No! Never! I'll _never _help you!"

"Yes, you will. If you disobey me a few more times, I'll show you why you shouldn't. For now, though, you're new, so I'll give you a chance. You have a darkness in your heart, Ayanumi. And I intend to exploit it."

"No… you're wrong about me…"

"Ah, no, I'm not. You'll kill a few of the Guardians, and then you'll never be able to turn back. And you'll see that soon, Ayanumi."

"That's not my name…" I growled. He only laughed.

"I don't really care. I intend to turn you; only then will I call you by your destined name. For now, you'll retain your race's name, as you still display their 'good' qualities… But you'll be rid of them, soon…"

He shrugged, and then faded away. I shook my head unhappily, looking around. There was no _way _I'd kill a Guardian. Didn't he understand that?!

I immediately tried any magic I knew I could use, but found that I was unable to do anything. Was this some sort of anti-magic world, or was Chaos blocking my abilities…? No, there was no way he could block my abilities, unless he had set some sort of magical dead-zone around this planet. So this place must have been an anti-magic world of some sort… How odd, and how unfortunate. But, of course, that was probably why Chaos had chosen this place; he was probably testing me, to see how powerful I was. Didn't he know that I'd only had a week to train?! Cantus may have been a good teacher, but even he couldn't have prepared me for taking out a Guardian when I had only had one week! Gah… Wait wait wait, I was talking like I was actually going through with this! No, there had to be some way to escape this fate… From Chaos' ominous warning earlier, I assumed that he was probably going to kill me if I didn't obey. There _had _to be a way to survive, but not to kill others… there _had _to be a way out…

Then, I remembered: I was a creation of the gods! I could probably contact them more easily than a mortal could…

I paced around for about ten minutes, just trying to get any of the gods to talk to me. But none of them said a thing. It was as if I was completely alone. I _felt _alone, too. They hadn't… they hadn't abandoned me to this fate, had they?! Surely, they wouldn't have done that… Would they have?! I sank to the ground, shaking my head.

Then, Chaos was next to me again. He grabbed my arm and harshly pulled me to my feet. I glared at him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Get going already. I won't have you wasting any time; we only have so long before the gods start to intervene. And yes; they _will _kill you." He chuckled darkly. "In fact, they're hoping _I _kill you. That's what you're wondering, isn't it? Why they left you alone? Well, I'll give you the answer: they fear your power, and what it could do to them. You could show the truth to the masses, and they'd lose control. They'd rather kill you than have that. We can end them, though, and we will." There was something he wasn't telling me… But, like always, I decided to ignore it. If only I hadn't, then I would have known that the gods weren't actually the bad guys here…

I stared at him in horror. "You… want me to kill the gods?! You're insane!"

He shrugged. "Perhaps. But you'll see my side of it, soon. We're not alone, Ayanumi; not by a long shot. And our allies are _hardly _weak…" He grinned, and then disappeared again.

I sighed, shaking my head. No… no, this was _madness_. There was no _way _I would go through with this! I paused, then, a thought suddenly striking me. Though it probably shouldn't have mattered, I still found myself wondering… what had happened to Cantus? Had Chaos killed him…?

**Heh, oh, I'll tell you what happened with **_**him**_**, but only after you kill the Guardian like a good girl, alright?**

Wait… How was Chaos using _his _telepathy…? This just didn't make any sense…

I took a deep, calming breath, but it didn't really help. I ignored Chaos, and just started walking forward, towards the 'city'. What would I find there…? Enemies, allies…? I couldn't be certain, yet…

I quickly made my way across the desolate land. The gravel crunched underneath my steady steps as I approached the looming fortress. I didn't see anyone; at first, at least. But I could tell that I was being watched by more than one person; in other words, someone _besides _Chaos had their gaze on me. Who, though…? I couldn't _see _anyone nearby… I couldn't hear anyone, either. As far as I knew, I was the only one here.

I looked around the grey area, trying to find any source of life. But yet, there was none. What had Chaos _done _to this place…?!

I walked through the fortress now, and my footsteps were the only sounds that echoed around the dreary place. Had this place been abandoned _before _we had come here, or…? I didn't really want to think of why, either way…

Suddenly, another set of footsteps appeared, though much fainter than mine. I stopped walking, looking around the dust-covered place. After a moment, I noticed a shadow move behind a building.

"H-hey! Wait!" I called, although it was probably a stupid move. I ran after the shadow, my hurried steps kicking up the red dust.

After a moment, I knew that I was chasing a real person, as I saw them round a corner. I couldn't tell what they looked like, though; they were just a shadow in the surrounding darkness. Notice, I'm calling this person a 'shadow' quite a lot for a reason…

Finally, after chasing this person through the winding streets, leaping over and through rubble that was strewn across the broken cobblestone roads, I managed to corner them at the point where two of the walls met. I caught up to them, slowing to a halt. The person reluctantly turned around to face me, his face belying how worried he obviously was.

This guy was probably no older than how I looked; he was perhaps in his early twenties at the oldest. His skin was pale, much like mine; most likely because it seemed that the sun didn't favor this part of the world. His eyes were covered by dark shades, unfortunately; so, then, he probably _wasn't _from around here. His hair was shoulder-length and black, with streaks of crimson in it. His outfit matched his hair, strangely enough; he had a crimson shirt, a black jacket, black jeans, black shoes, and black gloves.

I glared at him, and he visibly winced. I wasn't certain why until I realized that my glowing magenta eyes would probably be a bit unsettling… Was this man a Cetra? Probably not, since it was a different world. A human, then? Or something similar? Most likely.

I folded my arms across my chest, waiting for him to speak first. Since, after all, I didn't know what language he spoke…

After a moment, he sighed. "You can understand this, correct…?" he said, surprising me by using the first language I had spoken. I nodded, and he looked around cautiously before turning back to me. "I assumed so. You're the fabled 'Ayanumi' then, I suppose… But… Why are you here…?"

I shrugged. "Long story; one that I'd rather not tell." Of course, I _did _want to tell him, but I wasn't sure how Chaos would react… Right now, I just wanted to not die, really… Then, I paused. "Wait a minute… How do you know about the Ayanumi…?"

He smirked. "Everyone on this world does. I do especially, since I am pretty high up in ranking."

He was being quick with his answers, but that was understandable; after all, he didn't know who I was. I nodded. "I see… And… who are you, exactly?"

"This is _my _world; you should be telling me who _you _are."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright. My name is Jenova. Now…?"

"Shadow. Nice to meet you… hopefully. But, having you here from your world can't be good… The Guardian of this world told me to watch out, as many of the worlds are being destroyed. …Was yours?"

Should I lie…? How else would I be able to explain…? But, no… No, lying wouldn't help me here… I just wouldn't tell him the full truth. "…I'm not certain. The last thing I knew, I was knocked unconscious, and woke up nearby. That's it. The demon doing this… Chaos, I believe I heard him call himself. Yeah. He may still be nearby… I don't know why he didn't kill me, but…"

Shadow shrugged. "Well, you're here for a reason. Perhaps he wants you to kill the Guardian of this world? The Protector is already missing… Most of the people are remaining optimistic, but I know that their hoping is in vain. So does the Guardian; he's the one that told me about the Protector missing in the first place."

I stared at him. "Well, that would be awful, now, wouldn't it? No; I'm certain that he doesn't want me to kill the Guardian; that would be pointless."

He was silent for a moment. Since I couldn't see his eyes, it was impossible for me to tell his thoughts. And, since I couldn't use my telepathy, it was even _more _impossible. Finally, he spoke again. "We'll see. For now, come with me. We might as well get you to as much safety as we can…"

He cautiously walked by me, leaving me no choice but to follow him. I looked back behind us as we walked, and back in the shadows cast by the walls, I could see Chaos watching us. I turned my gaze away from him, looking ahead. Did Chaos really expect me to play by his rules…? Did he really expect me to kill the Guardian…? No… that wasn't how things were going to go. Soon, I'd have a Guardian nearby; there was no way that Chaos would be able to defeat the both of us.

_**You can try to fight us, Chaos… **_I said to only myself, although it was possible that he could still hear me, since he had talked in my mind earlier. _**You can try, but you'll lose. Even if you don't, here, that won't matter; I will **_**never **_**obey you. I **_**will **_**kill you one day; I promise you that much. And I'll make sure that that's one promise that I keep… **_I smiled slightly.

_**No matter **_**what**_** happens.**_


	9. Now

**-Disclaimer.- I don't own anything, alright? Or do I...? No, I don't.**

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**A/N: ((Short chapter, sorry, didn't realize it until today. Anyways, next DR chapter will be up as soon as I figure out what to do for it…)) 'ello, people. So… I'm being forced – 'forced' isn't the right word, because I love it, but you get the idea – to go to Anime Expo next year with my friend… Only issue? She's forcing – correct use – me to cosplay as Jenova… Goddess help me… **

_**Aww, that'll be fun to see, hehe.**_

**A/N: Shut up, Syndra.**

…_**Eh?**_

**Hehe, alright, to the story.**

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_**Now**_

Shadow led me through the winding roads of the fortress for a bit, until we found the exit again. He then led me across the rocky plains towards a mountain not too far in the distance.

"Where are we going…?" I asked cautiously, quickening my graceful pace so that I could keep up with him. He didn't even look back at me.

"Somewhere safe," he said calmly. "Now that we have you here, we may have a fighting chance against… Chaos, I believe you called him? Anyways, we may have a chance, now. A Guardian and an Ayanumi against a demon… It could actually work. So? Will you help us?"

I paused, and then nodded. "I'll… try. But… I don't know. He was powerful, when I fought him. And he didn't play fairly. It will be hard…"

Shadow sighed. "I didn't assume that it would be easy. Just… even if we all die, and you're the last one standing, you can't stop fighting. Alright? There's a reason he didn't kill you outright… so you, unlike us, may have a chance."

"No pressure, right?" I asked, smirking. He shrugged.

"Sorry. But, it's true."

"Yeah, I know… I'll do my best, alright?"

"I sure hope so." He looked back at me, stopping for a moment. "In all honesty, Jenova… I don't think that this planet will survive for much longer. At least, those who live on it won't. This guy is obviously powerful… and, in truth, I don't believe that we'll win. There's something… else, going on here. Something huge. And I don't know what, but… I know that you're a part of it, alright? Even if this planet falls, you _have _to keep fighting. Alright?"

"Alright, I will; I promise."

"Good… Come on, then…"

He led me along a drying river for a while, finally stopping once we had reached the nearby mountains. There was some sort of strange statue carved out of the mountain itself, but I couldn't tell what it was.

Shadow took out a wickedly sharp dagger from seemingly nowhere, carving a symbol into the mountain; an infinity, actually. He looked back at me. "Though I assume you already know this, the infinity is the symbol of the Guardians. Since we're under the Guardian's protection, now, the symbol to get in is, of course, the same infinity."

"Right…" I said, remembering my amulet. Luckily, I could tell that I was still wearing it, but it didn't seem that it would do much good if my enemies only used physical attacks…

Strangely enough, a door opened in the side of the mountain. Shadow's dagger disappeared into… well, shadows. I tilted my head. "Huh… cool…"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's a special weapon. Not only can it disappear – that would be nothing special to an Ayanumi such as yourself – but it can also change forms, depending on what I need it for. It can be bound to another weapon, giving such a weapon the same powers; however, I prefer to use it by myself. It can't change into anything any larger than itself, of course; conservation of mass and such. But, that doesn't really matter."

I nodded slightly. "Right… And it can be unbound as well?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well, it's cool. Now… are we supposed to be going in there…?"

"Yes. Come on," he said, walking in through the odd door. I hesitated, but it started to close after a minute, and I rushed inside.

The scent of dust lingered in the air inside of the mountain, but that wasn't much of a surprise. The inside of the mountain was dimly lit by torches here and there, casting an orange glow everywhere and causing our shadows to dance on the walls behind us as we walked down a tunnel.

Finally, after a minute or so of awkward silence, we reached a huge cavern in what I assumed was the heart of the mountain. There was a large gathering of people in there, all living their lives normally, more or less. The cavern seemed to have been divided up into blocks, giving each person or group of people their own little space. Everyone was in garments that could only be described as a cross between modern clothing and medieval outfits. They all seemed somewhat worried, but were obviously doing their best to hide it. Several turned to look at us approach, eyeing me warily before turning back to whatever they had been doing previously.

Shadow led me through the crowd of people, making his way to the back of the cavern where a large tent was set up. He opened the front flap, allowing me in before following.

The woman inside of the tent was sitting at a wooden desk, tracing lines on a map. After a moment, she looked back at us, freezing when she saw me. She was a woman in perhaps her mid-twenties, her light blonde hair tied back in a bun and her skin turning pale, probably from little exposure to the sun. Her eyes were a sparkling blue, yet they seemed tired. Her outfit – which would look to you guys like something you would have seen during World War 1, only hers was made out of black leather; but hey, whose isn't? – was dirt streaked and worn from use, showing just how many battles she had fought in. She had a rapier with a silvery blade and a golden grip attached to her belt, its blade not even the slightest bit dull, despite many years of obvious use.

"Who is this…?" she asked, her voice harsh and yet still retaining a gracefulness and an air of authority all at once.

Shadow smirked, taking off his glasses but turning towards her and away from me. "This, Mara, is Jenova. An Ayanumi."

The first thing she zeroed in on was his use of her name, instead of anything about me. "That's General Shin to you, boy."

"Is that really any way to talk to me, hmm…?" he said teasingly, which she visibly didn't like.

"Keep in mind that you're not in charge here. There's very little hierarchy left after the war, and I can't have you ruining what stability I've established. Understand?"

Shadow shrugged. "Sure. Now, anyways, our normal quarrel can wait… For now, we still need to find a way to survive. So…"

General Shin – I call her that out of respect, but mostly because she scared me, both now and later – quirked a brow at me, looking me up and down. "I thought you said the Ayanumi didn't exist, Shadow…?"

Shadow shrugged. "I said that I _assumed _that they didn't. But I was proven wrong."

"How…?"

I could tell that he was grinning, just by his tone. "Because she understands the language of the gods."

"I see… Is this true?"

I quickly nodded, feeling her intense gaze burning into my soul. Not literally, but you get what I mean. "Er, uh, I don't know. Yes? I think so."

General Shin nodded. "Yes, it's true. Do you not realize that we are speaking in that language at this very moment? I suppose all languages would basically be the same for you… such an odd race… Before you ask how we know it, the Guardian taught us, as there was a chance we may need to speak discreetly while others are around."

Shadow nodded. "Yeah, basically…"

She glanced at the door of the tent. "And, you're certain that you two weren't followed…?"

I nodded. "Positive. We didn't see Chaos anywhere."

"Doesn't mean he didn't follow you… Chaos, you say his name is? Pointless information, unfortunately. And, anyways… it's not just Chaos that you have to worry about, here… There are still old allies that have turned against us, now. Chaos seems to have tapped into their fear and violence, driving them to the brinks of insanity; it's the only real explanation. You see, not too long ago, I met an old… friend, on the battlefield… I tried to stop him, and to ask what was going on, but… he was insane… He kept on muttering about how we would have betrayed them if they hadn't acted first… It just didn't make any sense. But, now, I'm starting to realize that all of the soldiers I've fought have been raving about how their fears drove them to fight… and I've come to the conclusion that somehow, someway, the demon we are now fighting is able to tap into your darkest emotions. Fear, hatred, violence… He can bring those emotions to the forefront of your mind, if he gets near you."

I shivered slightly. "There must be a way to dodge those abilities, then…"

"Yes, of course. Every being has its weakness; before long, we'll find his." She laced her fingers together, resting her chin on them and looking at me over the top of her hands. "Now, first things first. How did you end up here? And don't even think about lying, because I'll cut you down where you stand if you do."

"Goddess, Mara, you could be _nice_," Shadow all but growled.

"Nice doesn't win a war. Especially a war against a demon that can turn our very allies against us."

"True…"

I quickly nodded. "Uh, right… Well, you see, I don't really _know _what happened; it's all kind of a blur, now. But, I only woke up, like, a week ago, and my Protector told me that somebody is after me. After a week of training, this person – the same demon attacking you now – revealed himself to us, knocking me out and bringing me here for some reason… Perhaps he wants a challenge?"

General Shin nodded slowly, gently stroking her rapier with one of her hands and resting her other one on one of the chair arms. "Doubtful. No, this demon possesses superior strategic skills, merely taking a sadistic look at the events before him and doing his best to please himself while taking us out. He's not using pure power to win this war; he's turning our own people against us. I don't know _how_, but I _will _figure it out. At any rate, he wouldn't have brought you here merely for a hunt; he has a purpose in mind for you." She looked at me, watching for the slightest reaction. "Now, we must find out just what it is…"


	10. Who I Am

**-Disclaimer.- Darn it, Bilbo; you forgot to remind me about the disclaimer… It's always your fault when things like this happen.**

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**((A/N: Bahahaha, you know, when I was first writing this, I was pretty worried about whether or not you guys would hate dark storylines. But nope! That doesn't seem to be the case, hehe, based on your guess. Also, I've read several of your stories, and you're definitely right on the 'vivid imagination' thing; you're a pretty awesome writer, actually. Anyways, sorry about the delay, life is pretty hectic right now and I didn't have internet until today. I'll try to keep this much of a delay from happening again. Alright, to the story.))**

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_**Who I Am**_

I sighed, pacing around outside of the tent as General Shin and Shadow spoke. What were they talking about in there…? And why wasn't I allowed to hear? Well, of course, there was the possibility of me being a traitor, but, pfft, like _that _mattered…

"May I have a word…?"

I jumped at the all-too-familiar voice, dismay and dread washing over me as I turned around to face Chaos. He was still in Lucade's form, just with a black version of what would have been a normal outfit on this world. He was smiling innocently, but I could see the cruelness held in his gaze. How had _he_ gotten in here?!

None of the humans around the area seemed to really care; in fact, most of them were asleep in their tents by now. There were only a few of them still out, and they were paying attention to their own business without so much as a glance my way. I wanted to yell for help, but knew that it would do me no good.

Reluctantly, I nodded, and he moved over to the very edge of the cavern with me following. Somehow, he had found the only place that was secluded, as it was well-hidden by the tents and temporary buildings that were scattered about.

"How…?!" was the first thing I said, taking a step backwards, towards the solid cavern wall behind me that would lend me no aid. Chaos only chuckled.

"You were naïve to leave the entrance open for even so long as the ten seconds that it took to close behind you."

"Perfect…"

"Not for you, but perhaps for me. Have you located the Guardian, yet?"

I glared at him. "No, of course not! And if you think-"

Before I could finish, he silenced me, first putting his hand over my mouth so that I couldn't speak, and then slamming me harshly against the nearby cavern wall. So harshly, in fact, that I felt like the whole cavern was rapidly spinning, beckoning me to just simply fall unconscious on the stone floors. Chaos smiled at me, putting a finger against my lips – at least, I was pretty sure he did, as everything was still blurry. "Shh. Be quieter, hm? You wouldn't want them to hear us; who knows what they'd do to you if they found out you were a spy for me? I'd hate to see such a beautiful creature like yourself be unnecessarily harmed… Actually, I'd _love _to see it; I'd just rather it be at my hands, and not theirs."

I pushed him away, and he let me, taking a step back. I smirked, still standing against the wall and only speaking after I no longer felt like I was about to pass out. "Honestly, I'd probably rather face their wrath than wait to find out what _you're _going to do with me…"

He smiled disarmingly at me. "I won't do anything to you, if you behave. However, that seems to be an issue so far… I promise that I'll show you why your continued disobedience isn't a good idea…"

I rolled my eyes. "That's the second time you've said something like that. What does that _mean_?"

"As I said: I'll probably have to show you, soon. It would be in your best interests to not find out, though…" I could see just by the look in his cold eyes that he loved toying with me, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of showing any fear. So, I simply shrugged.

"Whatever…"

"Heh… Now… What had we been talking about? Ah, yes, the Guardian. You haven't found him, then?"

I paused, then nodded reluctantly. "Right. And… you're sure that the Guardian is a man?" I wasn't sure why, but all of a sudden, I realized just how commanding General Shin had been… Perhaps…?

Chaos nodded. "Positive. The Guardians technically don't have a real gender, but appearance and personality wise, all the Guardians and Protectors are men."

I smirked, suddenly incredibly annoyed. "Do the gods have an issue with women…?"

He chuckled. "I like seeing that fire in your eyes. No, I doubt that they do; in fact, the one who accidentally created the universe and the Guardians would be considered a woman, based on her personality and preferred appearance. Exactly like the Guardians and the Ayanumi, neither she nor her counterpart have a real gender, but they both have a preferred form that is very much the opposite of the other."

"Al…right… By the way, since you seem to know everything… What's the difference between a Guardian and an Ayanumi, exactly…?"

He glanced at me cautiously. "You don't know…?"

I smirked again. "I never exactly had time to find out…"

"Not true; that's something your Protector should have told you when he told you what you were… Odd that he didn't trust you enough. Perhaps he knew your fate before you did…"

I shook my head, looking around to make certain that nobody was listening. "No… No, that's not true. He would have told me; even if he knew what I could do, he wouldn't have abandoned me to my fate."

"Then why did he?"

I froze, looking at him. "Wh-what?"

He laughed. "I've already said that I'll tell you what happened with your planet, but only_ after_ you take care of the Guardian. Think of the truth as a reward, when this is all over. And you _do _want to know… don't you?"

I paused, and then was horrified that I had actually considered going along with his plans just to find out what had happened with Cantus. Would I really sink that low just to get what I wanted?! Was this who I was becoming so quickly?! No… I wouldn't let Chaos turn me into his pawn… "Never. I'll find the Guardian, and we'll stop you."

He shrugged. "Ah, Ayanumi… I'm already several steps ahead of you. I already know who the Guardian is, and just how doubtful they are of you. If you make a single mistake, they'll abandon you, and you'll just have to see my side of things for once. I don't know why you refuse to look at things in a different light; just consider the other side's way of thinking, for once. How do you know that what I'm doing isn't right? How do you know that it isn't the gods that are evil, and not me? You can never really be certain, until you know the full truth; a truth that I won't tell you until you decide to fight _with _me instead of _against _me. I'd rather have you on my side _before _telling you everything; knowing the truth will just assure your place, in the end."

I shook my head after his little monologue. Gah, how I already _hated _monologues… "Not going to happen. I'll tell the Guardian everything; I won't lie about my situation. He – or she – will understand."

He grinned at me. "Ah, but you see… you've already lied to the Guardian… At least, in front of them."

Without explaining, he just simply walked away, out into the public area. I almost ran after him, but didn't want to start a scene. So, reluctantly, I sat down against the wall. If only I had seen the shadow just barely showing from around the corner of the building that was supposed to be keeping me hidden…

**-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-**

Only about five minutes later, General Shin walked over to me, followed very closely by Shadow. I was just sitting against the wall, trying to think without even realizing that my being over here would probably be strange. Immediately, I jumped up. "Oh! Sorry, I just, wanted to be alone for a moment…"

General Shin shrugged. "Quite hard to ever truly be alone nowadays, so I understand. Anyways… Shadow and I agreed that it may be best for you to stay in our sights for now, just to make sure that nothing goes wrong. However, we _will _allow you to lend your aid, if you are willing…"

I nodded quickly. "Of course! Yes, of course I'll help. Thank you."

She smirked. "I'm taking a huge risk here, you know, so if you turn out to be a traitor after all…" She didn't complete her sentence, letting the threat hang in the air. I shrugged.

"I understand completely. Don't worry; I'll do my best to help you. I promise you that much. I can't guarantee anything, but…"

"Neither can we, so the agreement is mutual."

"Right…"

Shadow sighed. "The truth is… these people know that their lives are basically over. We want to try our best to make sure that that's not the case. However, if we all _do _die… as I said before: you _must _keep fighting. Alright? We're placing our faith in you, just as much as you're placing your faith in us."

I nodded. "Understood. I hope it won't have to come to that, but if it _does_… well, I'll fight him until my last breath. I promise."

General Shin nodded. "Good. Now, come with us."

Shadow looked just as confused as I probably did. I tilted my head. "Where…?"

"The ruins of our old keep, of course. We need to make sure that there aren't any enemies spying on us; with you here, that should be easier and far less dangerous. Not like it would be anyways, of course, but at least we can get this done more quickly."

I nodded again, and she turned on a heel, walking away. I glanced at Shadow. "Do we follow…?"

He chuckled slightly. "That would be best, yes. She can come off as quite rude, but she really has all of our best interests at heart."

I couldn't help but ask my next question. "And, I don't mean to be forward, but… Will I get to meet the Guardian anytime soon? I just want to make sure that I won't be ambushed or something…"

He nodded, looking after General Shin. She had turned her head back to look at us, her blue eyes like daggers as she waited for us to follow. Shadow smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'd assume so. You have nothing to fear from us, though, so don't worry. Alright?"

"Got it…"

"At least, you won't have anything to fear unless we don't follow her…" He smiled jokingly at me, but then sighed, walking after General Shin. That was the first time I realized something: Shadow could _seem _upbeat at times, but was that really how he was…? He actually seemed to be pretty depressed; of course, I couldn't tell without seeing his eyes. Actually, now that I was thinking about it… was that why he wore those glasses? So that I couldn't tell what he was really thinking…?

It annoyed me for some reason that I couldn't read Shadow's thoughts; ever since I had discovered that power of mine, I had relied heavily on it without even meaning to. Now, though… who was I without my abilities? I couldn't even use my own swords as adroitly as I should have been able to. I didn't even know my purpose in life; not really. I wasn't a Guardian, so I wasn't meant to protect my world. I wasn't meant to protect the Guardian, either. I was just… what? What was I? _Who _was I? Was this my destiny, then? Had I always been meant to become a slave to Chaos' will, like he was determined to make me? Was that… who I was? A puppet, and nothing more?

_**No… **_I decided, walking swiftly after Shadow and General Shin. _**No… I won't be a puppet. That's not who I am. I… I'm going to stop Chaos. I will, no matter how long it takes. No matter what I face, no matter what I lose… I **_**will **_**stop him. Cantus… if you're still alive… that's my promise to you. I **_**will **_**stop Chaos, and… even though they've abandoned me… I **_**will **_**save the gods. I'll save the universe. I'll save everyone. And Chaos will see just how wrong he is about me… Everyone will. Everyone! I'll show you all who I am… Chaos, Cantus, Shadow, Mara, Minerva… even the gods that so easily abandoned me… I'll show you all who I am! Who I **_**really **_**am! That's my promise to you all… and that's one promise that I **_**will **_**keep… **_**no matter what!**


End file.
